What to Buy for a Baby's First Year

I realized in my last post about my favorite items of the past year that I should have some sort of post for all of the essential items. So here is the most comprehensive list I can make of everything we used and loved in Charlie’s first year.

TRAVEL

We use the Nuna Pipa Lite RX car seat, which we chose because it was the lightest on the market and didn’t need a base—we carry it around often and use it without the base regularly, so these two factors ended up as important as we thought they might be.

We also use the Nuna Demi Grow stroller, which the carseat easily attached to, and which will easily become a double stroller if a second baby ever comes along. It’s big, but rides really smoothly and I love the full-coverage netting on the summer seat. For the past couple of months, we’ve also used the Doona Liki Trike instead of the stroller on occasion, which Charlie loves riding in.

I never invested in a diaper bag. I use an old Vera Bradley backpack with my portable changing pad. It’s worked perfectly fine so far.

I did, however, get a felt caddy for the car. I try to keep it stocked with an extra: (1) diaper, (2) outfit, (3) burp cloth, (4) pack of wipes, (5) muslin, (6) pacifier, (7) small toy, and (8) bottle/snack. It doesn’t come in handy every day, but definitely has helped with a couple of “oh no” moments. It’s in current need of restocking, after an “oh no” moment came when I didn’t have it stocked.

Because I’m not entirely sure what category they belong in, I’ll also add pacifiers to this section, because we make sure never to go anywhere without a backup. For some reason our son loves and only loves MAM pacifiers. I think it’s that they leave a lot of room for his nose and chin?

Nursery

For information about our crib, nursery storage, and more, see my Nursery Reveal post. I am extremely happy with our crib and nursery organization, although Chase did switch our armchair out for a rocker. We’ve also added an inflatable bed in the nursery as we’ve struggled with Charlie sleeping in his own room, and a display bookcase for our favorite books of the moment. Some book recommendations can be found here.

Play

I never fully understood why such small babies had so many toys until I realized that toys aren’t just for play, but for development.

In the first three to four months, when Charlie needed visual stimulation, we bought a foldable wooden baby gym with a leaf mat. We bought a couple of exrta black and white toys to hang from it, because in the first few months, having high-contrast toys is important for vision. We also bought a black and white book for him to look at during tummy time. I also used wrist/ankle rattles during playtime, because “I can control my hands and feet” is a thing babies need to learn. Finally, crinkle books and lovies were always a good time during the first couple of months.

For travel, we bought these Manhattan travel pull toys for his car seat, and they were some of Charlie’s favorite toys when he was learning to reach and pull.

From months four to eight-ish, we used a foldable foam play mat more for tummy time and switched to more interactive toys, like this owl wobble toy, Montessori pull toy, the aforementioned carrot pull toy, a Baby Einstein piano, a walk-and-glow salamander, a hide-and-seek Winnie the Pooh, silicon blocks and stackers, some teethers, and a sensory tissue box.

We also got an activity center/jumper, and while it was useful to have a place to put Charlie to entertain himself for a few minutes, it wasn’t the best bouncer we could’ve gotten and he enjoyed one like this at my sister’s house much more.

For the past couple of months, in addition to still playing with a lot of the toys I’ve just mentioned, Charlie has been all-in on this Little People farm set, because he sees the big kids playing with it. He also walks with his walker, plays with balls, and enjoys time with bubbles.

Feedings

In the milk-only days, we loved Burt’s Bees Burp Cloths and Lansinoh bottles, which we needed to fortify with Oat Cereal for reflux. We also got a lot of use out of our Boppy.

When we started transitioning to solids, we bought a Bumbo, which we’ve only used a handful of times, and a Lalo high chair, which we use daily. I love the Lalo for its sleek design and how easy it is to clean, but our space is small and the legs do extend quite a bit, so I do sometimes wonder if the Stokke may have been a better choice for our space.

We use the Lalo tray to serve food (any other plate or bowl has gotten thrown to the floor), and for water, we started with the Ola Baby Training Cup with silicon wings and eventually transitioned to Contigo cups for on-the-go.

There’s no use trying to keep a self-feeding baby clean, but I do love these pullover toddler bibs.

Like I mentioned in this first post, I wasn’t able to breastfeed, so we used the Brezza to warm and mix our formula, and Kendamil was our formula of choice for its ingredients.

Changing

Coterie diapers are the best and our set up was complete with our Ubbi diaper pail, Skip Hop Changing Pad, Honest Wipes, which I keep in this great dispenser, and hedgehog diaper caddy. This spray on diaper rash cream also rocks. For travel, we used the portable changing pad.

We used a dresser as a changing table and you can see some of out changing set-up in my nursery post.

Bathtime

For bath time, we originally gave Charlie sink baths using this Frida baby soft sink bath, which was easy to store and dried quickly. We used the silicon scrubber with Honest’s shampoo + body wash and conditioner. When we had a bout of cradle cap, we used the Frida Oh Cr*p Cradle Cap set and brushes to deal with it quickly.

When Charlie got a little better at sitting up, we transitioned to the Frida Baby 4-in-1 tub and installed a Moby spout cover. We always have a couple of silicon bath toys for Charlie to play with.

We own baby towels, and we did use them often in the beginning, but nowadays, he’s big enough that we just use our towels to dry him off after a bath. I suspect when he’s a little older, he may want the fun hooded towels again.

Currently, we use finger tooth brushes to brush his (six) teeth.

Sleep

Until he was too big, Charlie slept in a Halo Bassinest in our room. He really likes being snuggled, so we used the MySnuggly infant insert for safer snuggles. We tried so many swaddles, but never found one that really worked until Charlie was old enough for a Merlin suit. He liked being cuddled and cozy, but not swaddled. We used a Love to Dream swaddle, Halo swaddles, and Swaddle Me velcro swaddles, but some of my favorites were actually just these big baby socks.

Eventually, he completely outgrew the bassinet, and we transitioned him to the crib in his nursery (crib link, mattress link), where he sleeps. Sometimes.

We bought an Owlet sock and rarely used it, so that felt like a waste. We do use the Owlet camera, and that works just fine. The Merlin Magic suits helped Charlie fall asleep back when he was smaller and we love the Kyte Sleep Bag Walkers and Burt’s Bees zip-up PJs.

We use our Yoto Player to play lullabies and sleep sounds. Even if you don’t want to use any of their cards, the app has an amazing Sleep Radio and a huge selection of white noise options.

I’m not sure this belongs in sleep, but for lounging and supervised naps, we used the SnuggleMe and Dock-A-Tot often in Charlie’s first couple of months, and considered them lifesavers.

We used muslins for nap time, swaddling, and just resting and I loved the Aden + Anais muslins. They were so soft and sweet. I think in our prime of using muslins (in the pre-sitting up era), we regularly used about ten. Now that Charlie is a a year old, we mainly use them on car rides and on walks. But in the next couple of months we may reintroduce them as bedtime blankets, since Charlie is reaching an age where blankets are considered safe and muslins are thin and breathable for a safer transition to sleeping with real blankets.

For covers for everything (Dock-A-Tot, SnuggleMe, Bassinest, & the crib) I tend to buy on Amazon and I buy at least 3 covers for each item.

Clothing

Clothing is such a hard task to handle because differences in seasons, climates, grow rates, and even trends, no two babies are ever going to have the same wardrobe needs. I tried never to buy clothes too far in advanced because Charlie grew out of his “age” of clothes more quickly than the labels suggested, and wasn’t wearing 6mo clothes at Christmas or 12mo clothes in the summer like he was “supposed” to.

Still, I’ll try to recommend some basics.

In the early days, we dressed Charlie in a good amount of short-sleeve onesies as a clothing “staple", adding pants when necessary. I also liked these newborn gowns with elastic bottoms as cozy clothing options that provided warmth, but also were super easy for diaper changes.

Around 4-5 months, we stopped dressing Charlie in onesies for the most part and switched to t-shirts (short or long sleeve) and either shorts or pants depending on the weather. We also dressed him in a lot of 2-piece pajama sets for all-the-time wear. (He was a baby. Who was he trying to impress?) During the winter, he wore a good amount of pull on sweaters.

Before he stopped fitting in 9mo clothes, we put him in a lot of Carter’s footed zip-up pajamas for sleep. They were cheap and great. Unfortunately, they don’t have many options for zip-up pajamas past 9mos, so we switched to Burt’s Bees brand.

During winter, we would put Charlie in baby booties and now that he’s older, strap-on sandals seem to be the most effective for keeping shoes on his feet for more than thirty seconds.

We mostly store clothes in IKEA’s 6-drawer Tarva dresser, organized by type of clothes in IKEA Skubb drawer organizers. We change Charlie on the dresser, right over where we keep his clothes, and use this the Owl basket as a hamper and keep it on the other side of the dresser to toss dirty clothes.

We also have some hangers in his closet, but we don’t use them very often anymore.

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I hope this helps any new parents. It’s been interesting to write this up and realize just how many stages we’ve gone through in just a year, although I beg of you, please do not tally the cost of the items listed here.

I’m so excited for whatever is coming next and for all of the new ways our life with Charlie will change and grow.

xx

Julia

Favorite Baby Items for the First Year

I’ve been a mom for (almost) a whole year now, which is a little difficult to wrap my head around. My little one is one! It’s hard to overstate what a challenge (a good challenge, but still a challenge) this year has been. To commemorate, I thought I’d share some of my favorite baby products that have helped me survive it, in case any of my readers are new or expecting parents looking for some recommendations.

These are the items that were vital to me as I navigated the ups and downs of parenthood and did my best to raise a happy and healthy infant, while keeping myself happy and healthy as well. Most are my picks. Some were impulse purchases, others were planned and purposefully incorporated into our life, and all are items I fully recommend to any new parent.

1. Baby Brezza

My goal was to breastfeed for at least 6 months, unfortunately, a whole mess of issues (late supply, low supply, D-MER, strong reflux…) meant that my breastfeeding journey ended after just eight weeks and I was never able to sustain my baby through breastmilk alone. This meant that while formula was necessary for keeping my son alive, I hadn’t really planned for it and was unprepared for using it constantly throughout the day.

For the first couple of weeks we struggled with liquid formula and bottle warmers as we tried to soothe a hungry baby. Then we bought the Brezza, which is like a Keurig for baby formula. Each bottle was prepared and warmed within 30 seconds (we even got the kind that let us make a bottle using our phone) and as long as we made sure to clean and refill it before the next feeding (if necessary), there was no more soothing a crying baby for what felt like an eternity for a bottle to heat up. It also meant we could make a bottle one-handed, when we had a baby on our other arm.

My little one isn’t done with bottles yet, so we still use our Brezza daily (with Kendamil, which I also recommend).

2. Snuggle Me / Dock-A-Tot

The first few days after we brought my son home, he very rarely left anyone’s hands. We struggled getting him to sleep in the bassinet and didn’t have anywhere even safe-ish to put him on the sofa, so we just… held him.

Enter the Snuggle Me. The Snuggle Me let us lay him down safely on the coffee table or sofa beside us so we could give our arms much needed breaks and introduce a hint of freedom back into our lives. Amazingly, he also was comfortable sleeping in it (which we let him do supervised), which gave us moments to relax, too.

We bought the Snuggle Me and were given the Dock-A-Tot as a gift. We enjoyed both and would recommend both. We even got a larger Dock-A-Tot that Charlie still uses occasionally. I’ll also add that the Dock-A-Tot has some useful additional accessories, like the Cabana Kit and the Toy Arch which add to its usefulness.

If you buy them, though, I highly recommend buying extra covers (Snuggle Me, Dock-A-Tot) on Amazon rather than paying $$$ for the “official” covers. You’ll definitely want a couple extra, and you’ll find a wider assortment of designs and fabrics for much better prices.

3. Yoto Player

We’ve used the Yoto Player for playtime and sleepy time ambient music. We use mostly Make Your Own cards, and most frequently have on: the Harry Potter soundtracks, Disney calming piano covers, or Disney World theme park music.

The music is a great signal as to what we’re in the nursery to do—sleep or play.

When Charlie was still very small, I would put on an audiobook like Winnie the Pooh, the Wind in the Willows, or Frog and Toad while we were doing tummy time. I found having the audiobooks playing helped me keep my phone down and stay in the moment with Charlie, while keeping my mind occupied.

I still put on audiobooks occasionally when we’re trying to calm down or nap, but playtimes currently are a bit too noisy for them.

Charlie’s still not quite to the age where he can interact with the Yoto Player and really enjoy it for what it is, but it’s still an item that we use every single day, even just as a speaker that Chase and I can both control from our phones, but isn’t dependent on either of them (we can listen to our own music/podcasts while changing what is playing on the Yoto).

4. Coterie Diapers

We were given the Babylist Diaper Box at our baby shower, in addition to some other samples of Hello Bello and Pampers. I loved that it let us try out a couple of different diaper brands in our first month as parents and by the end, there was a clear winner. Coterie diapers were softer, dryer, and held more… moisture… than the other diapers. We’ve used them exclusively ever since.

Speaking of diapers, I have nothing but rave reviews for our Ubbi diaper pail (which does a great job of masking scents and doesn’t need proprietary bags) and our Skip Hop Changing Pad. Our favorite wipes are Honest Wipes, which I keep in this great dispenser. We love our hedgehog diaper caddy and portable changing pad.

This spray on diaper rash cream should probably get it’s own section, but I’ll just give it a paragraph instead. Spray. On. Cream. It is easy and quick to apply and it actually helps when my little one gets rashes.

5. Carrot Montessori Toy

This little wooden carrot toy was my son’s favorite for the vast majority of his first year. We got it for him when he was about six months old, and it was his favorite until very recently, when it was dethroned by this Little People Farm Animal set.

He loved “harvesting” the carrots, the felt tops were easy for his little hands to grasp while he was still getting a handle of fine motor skills, and the wooden carrots were his favorite teethers. I truly can’t recommend it enough, and I plan to get a more complex version for him soon. (I’m eyeing this one.)

6. IKEA Drawer Organizers

This is such a small purchase that you may not think much of, but baby clothes are so teeny tiny and these drawer organizers have been a life saver for quickly grabbing an outfit before heading out the door or during a chaotic diaper change.

Speaking of, the Tarva dresser was only $250 when we bought it last year (it’s a little shocking to see that it’s gone up almost $100 since), but it’s still an amazing purchase for the price and has worked perfectly in the past year both as a dresser and changing table.

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xx

Julia

6 Days in London

This blog, way back in the day, began as a study abroad blog. So much life has happened since then and it’s been an entire six years since I last visited England.

Back in October, Chase and I booked a week-long trip for March of this year, and I spent those six months furiously planning both my first trip back in ages and Chase’s first trip to the UK ever. We were there from Tuesday, March 21st to Tuesday, March 28th and had a blast. I mostly focused on this trip being an action-packed “first ever trip” from the perspective of someone who’s spent a not-insignificant portion of their adulthood traveling to London and living in the UK.

I’ll post later with UK travel tips and packing advice, but for now, here’s our itinerary with everything I chose to do with five full days (and two half days) staying in London!

DAY ONE

You’re Really Here

2pm: Arrive in Heathrow

I was amazed by how quickly we got through immigration and customs with the new “eGate” system. I was prepared to spend up to an hour waiting to be interviewed by a border agent (“what’s your destination?” “what are you here for?” “how long is your stay?” etc.) Instead, there was an area with machines that scanned our passports, took photos of our faces, and let us into the U.K. I’m not sure if we were just lucky, but we didn’t even have a queue. It took us all of five minutes to get through customs. We didn’t even have to fill out the landing card on the airplane anymore. Unfortunately, that also meant that there were no passport stamps either.

2:30pm: Take the Heathrow Express to Paddington

We bought our Heathrow Express tickets at the airport. The journey from Heathrow to London on the Heathrow Express to Paddington is 25 GBP (round trip tickets are 37 GBP). It takes about 15min to get there, and after a long journey, the price felt worth it (to me), to get into London fast and comfortably. The train carriage is wider, with more storage space for luggage than the tube.

However, the cheaper option for your trip is taking the Piccadilly line on the London Underground. Taking the Piccadilly line from Heathrow to central London costs about 5.5 GBP and takes about 50min. We actually did this on the way back, when we were less pressed for time and less travel weary.

We also bought our Oyster Cards when buying our Heathrow Express tickets. We loaded the Oyster Cards with 30 GBP each initially, but ended up spending 45 GBP during our trip.

3pm: Buy a souvenir from Paddington Station

Paddington station has a dedicated Paddington Bear store, which is a great location to grab a souvenir for any wee ones on your souvenir list. As parents, we bought a Paddington Bear and a Paddington board book for our son as a fun souvenir from London. In the past, I’ve done the same for my nephew. We took pictures with our Paddington to put in a baby-friendly picture album, but alternately, you can just buy one of the Paddington books that feature iconic London sights, like Paddington at the Palace, Paddington at the Tower, or Paddington and the Grand Tour.

At Paddington Station, you can catch a number of underground lines.

3:30pm: Check into hotel

We stayed at The Rembrandt in South Kensington. I liked it because of its central location (our room had a view of the Victoria and Albert museum, just across the street!) and Chase liked it because it had king beds for a reasonable price. Our room came with a breakfast buffet each morning, where we could fill up on a full English breakfast before starting each day.

4:00pm: Have a cup of tea at the Morris Refreshment room at the V&A

Originally, we had planned to get into London earlier, and would have spent the afternoon touring both the Natural History Museum and the V&A Museum (of applied and decorative art), giving each place an hour and a half to catch their highlights. However, our flight was delayed three hours, so instead, we simply had tea at the William Morris room at the V&A. It is a beautiful dining room dating back to the 1860s, designed by Morris himself, with wooden wall appliques, stained glass windows, oak panelling, and gilded detailing. William Morris’s romantic designs are featured throughout the museum and are inspired by medieval design and Britain’s flora and fauna. They have earned their place as icons of British design.

5:00pm: Grab some hotel room snacks

Next on the list was to grab some British snacks from the nearest grocery store (Tesco, Sainsbury, M&S, Waitrose are all options you’ll find in central London). I highly recommend some McVities Biscuit Digestives  (the kind with the chocolate coating) and anything from the Mr. Kipling brand (my favorites are the mini Battenburg cakes, French Fancies, and Bakewell Slices).

Even if you don’t want to stock up on treats, it’s a smart idea to grab a few bottles of water and some sort of food to have on hand to avoid paying room service prices when your stomach grumbles in the middle of the night!

We grabbed some digestives and a couple of liters of water from a Little Waitrose near our hotel.

Another souvenir tip: teas, chocolates, and treats make for enjoyable, economical treats to bring back for the break room at work (or to your book club or D&D group, or what-have-you), if you’re so inclined!

We brought it all back to our hotel room and took another short breather in our hotel room before heading out for the evening.

6:00pm: Pre-Dinner Drinks on the Thames

Take the tub to either Embankment or Westminster (depending on where you’re heading from) and make your way to the River Thames. In between these two stops is Tattershall Castle, the pub on the Thames.

We took a moment to enjoy being on the river, with views of the London Eye, Big Ben, and Parliament, and stayed just long enough for a pint each before heading onward.

This is the You’re Really Here moment.

6:30pm: Rick Steves’ Westminster Walk

Rick Steves has a great audio walking tour of the Westminster area, starting on Westminster bridge and ending in Trafalgar Square. On it, you’ll see the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, a statue of Winston Churchill, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square and more.

This is the walk we did to get to our dinner, although I listened to the tour before we arrived. On it, there are so many iconic, bucket list sights.

We stopped right before the end before the perfect dinner to cap off a first night in the UK: a pub meal.

7:15pm: Dinner at Horse & Guardsman

We had actually booked dinner at a more historic pub (The Red Lion), but its size and the time of day meant it was a little too crowded for our comfort (in central London, you can usually spot a popular pub a few blocks away by the crowd drinking in the fresh air outside of it).

There are a number of pubs leading into Trafalgar Square from Whitehall, however, but we chose Horse & Guardsman, where we ordered from the “Pub Classics” section of the menu. Chase enjoyed fish and chips, I had a delicious chicken, ham, and leek pie and for pudding we shared a Belgian waffle. It was delicious, atmospheric, and made us feel like we had really, truly arrived.

At the end, we made our way back to Embankment and took the Underground to our hotel. (Although Charing Cross is the closest station to Trafalgar Square, it didn’t have a line that would take us directly to our stop, while Embankment was only an additional 5min walk and did).

DAY TWO

Iconic London

8:00am: Walk London’s Green Lung and See the Palace

After an early night, we woke up refreshed and enjoyed breakfast at our hotel, before making our way to Hyde Park. Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park, and St. James Park are four continuous royal parks that make up the “Green Lung” in the center of London. We started by the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, walked along the Serpentine to Green Park, where we walked alongside the back garden of Buckingham Palace.

We stopped to take photos and gawk at the guards at Buckingham Palace. The flag flying atop the palace while we were there was the Royal Standard not the Union flag, which signaled that King Charles III was in residence.

After the palace, we made our way to St. James Park, where we spotted one of its famous white pelicans (turned pink!), stood on the bridge and gazed out at Whitehall through the greenery on one side and Buckingham Palace on the other, grabbed coffees at St. James Cafe, and journeyed onwards to our next stop.

9:30am: Tour Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is just a short walk away from St. James Park and is truly unmissable. It costs £27 per person to get in and entrance includes an audio tour of the Abbey. Some of the best sights include the coronation chair, the tombs of royals including Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, the cloisters, the graves of Charles Darwin and Sir Isaac Newton, the oldest door in Britain (dating back 1000 years), and the Poet’s Corner (and the tomb of Geoffrey Chaucer and  grave of Charles Dickens).

It was extra exciting to see it before the coronation happening little more than a month later!

12:00pm: Tour the Tower of London

From Westminster Abbey, we took the Underground from Westminster to Tower Hill. It’s a short walk from the Underground stop to the tower, but we made sure to stop and see a surviving piece of the Roman city wall of Londinium.

While I bought tickets to the Tower (£30 each), Chase grabbed some fish and chips, and we entered the gates just in time to catch one of the guided Beefeater tours (every 30min), which lasted about an hour. Then, we saw the crown jewels, toured the White Tower, toured the Bloody Tower, and left out a gate with views of the Tower Bridge.

There was a lot to see in the Tower, from jewels to suits of armor to torture devices to hundreds of years old graffiti left by its prisoners. Our 2 1/2 hours there barely seemed to cover the essentials, and I recommend making a bit more time for it if you can.

3:00 Tea at Fortnum & Mason (at the Royal Exchange)

We left the tower at 2:30 and walked through the City to the Royal Exchange, where we had afternoon tea at Fortnum & Mason. It was a lovely experience, and I think it’s important to have afternoon tea (a service in which you get a pot of tea and tower of treats including cakes, pastries, and sandwiches) at least once while in London.

Fortnum & Mason tea can be especially exciting because it has a royal warrant marking it an official supplier of a royal household. It’s also just really, really good tea in my humble opinion.

After tea, we were pretty exhausted from the day’s walks and touring, and so we decamped to the hotel room for a few hours’ rest. If we’d been up for it, however, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Leadenhall Market, Borrough Market and Tower Bridge were all on the list of further sights in the area.

7:00 The Gunpowder Plot Experience

Starting at 6pm, we made our way via the Underground back to Tower Hill, where we had tickets for the Gunpowder Plot Experience. I honestly don’t know how to accurately describe it—it’s an interactive, immersive experience where you’re lead by actors through the Gunpowder Plot as though you’re part of it. They utilize a combination of dressed sets and VR to make the experience feel lived. We got two VIP tickets (£110 each) which included dinner and an intermission cocktail at a bar themed after a 17th century pub.

It was a fun and unusual night out/history lesson.

DAY THREE

Day Trip to Bath

10:30am: Train to Bath

We slept in this morning, in part because of how busy the previous day was, and in part to get super off-peak train tickets.

Trains to Bath leave every 1/2 hour from Paddington Station, and a super off-peak return ticket is about £100.

Unfortunately, the day we went, both routes towards Bath were blocked and our train was stopped for almost 2 hours in the middle of the British countryside, but we still had a nice afternoon in Bath

2:30pm: A Late Lunch at Sally Lunn’s

Sally Lunn and her buns are a Bath establishment. Also called a “Bath” bunn, these pieces of brioche bread are like taller, fluffier hamburger buns and they are absolutely delicious.

At Sally Lunn’s they’re serves as parts of sandwiches, desserts, and bread soup bowls. I highly recommend a “trencher” if you visit.

Meals are served in cozy Georgian dining rooms that makes you feel as if you’ve fallen into a Beatrix Potter storybook. Speaking of storybooks, Jane Austen once wrote in a letter about “disordering my stomach with Bath bunns.”

When you’ve finished your meal, head down to the museum downstairs where you can see the medieval oven and the various levels (in height) of the city over time.

3:30pm: Visit Bath Abbey

The first King of England was crowned in Bath Abbey although the current structure dates much later. Tickets are £6.50 and include entrance into a new Discovery Centre below the Abbey that walks you through its history.

4:00pm: Tour the Roman Baths

The Roman Baths are the crowning jewel of Bath, the reason for its name, and they are truly an amazing sight. You’ll feel lost in history standing in the ancient construction, staring up at the 17th century Abbey and Georgian buildings above you. It’s a breathtaking experience in a wonderfully set-up museum, with an audio guide leading you along. My (and I think everyone else’s?) favorite bit? The curse tablets, of course.

5:00pm: See the Circus and the Royal Crescent

If you’ve been watching Bridgerton, the Royal Crescent, at least, should be familiar to you! These terraced houses designed by John Wood in the late 1700s date back to the when the city was rebuilt in the Georgian period, just before Jane Austen’s time, and are powerful (beautiful) pieces of architecture. At the Royal Crescent, I also like to gaze out at the hills of Bath (the city sits in a valley, surrounded by the picturesque Cotswold Hills) and appreciate how the boundaries between the city and country fade away here.

6:00pm: An Early Dinner at Dough

We walked back down to the center of Bath to have dinner at Dough, a pizza place I enjoyed when I lived here, grabbed coffees at the Caffe Nero across from the Guildhall

7:00pm: Take the train back to London.

I wish we’d been to bath a little earlier and had a chance to visit the Jane Austen Museum, take a stroll through a park or two, or even gotten a chance to catch a bus to the town I used to live in, Corsham, but the city is a sleepy one, and shuts down pretty early unless you’re looking for a drink. So we took the train back to London at 7pm, caught the Underground to our hotel, and were back in for another early-ish night.

DAY FOUR

Vibrant London

10:00am: Take the Underground to Camden Market

We slept in this morning, again, because it is a vacation after all, but were on our way to Camden Market by 10. Saturdays in London are incredibly lively and Portabello Road and Camden come to life especially on them. We chose one of the two and headed to Camden, taking the District line to the Northern line.

At Camden, we shopped, ate, and watched boats navigate the locks on Regents Canal. Camden is known for birthing the punk movement (notably out of the Dingwall Building in the 1970s) and the area is colorful and eclectic.

1:30pm: Take the Underground to Covent Garden

From Camden, we continued on to Leicester Square, where we wondered around and saw Piccadilly Circus and China Town, before heading to our next stop.

2:30pm: See Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre on the West End

There are too many choices for shows to see on London’s famous West End, but after some discussion we decided on a classic: Les Mis. I have loved the 2012 film version for a decade, however, this was Chase’s first experience with Les Mis.

It was a phenomenal one.

We see shows that come to New Orleans on a national tour all of the time, but to see a show that has been at a theatre for almost twenty years, that is built into that theatre, was awe-inspiring, with some literal gasp-out-loud staging moments.

We’re still humming the tunes.

7:00pm: Dinner in Covent Garden

After Les Mis, we walked to Covent Garden, to visit our second market of the day. It’s not a must-visit, but I had pad thai at my beloved Wagamama (think British P.F. Chang’s) and we got pastries at Laduree. We also made a pit stop to the colorful Neal’s Yard, even though it was so late that most of the places there were closed. 

We had reservations at Mr. Fogg’s Gin Parlour, but canceled because we weren’t up to drinking (I’ve been to a Mr. Fogg’s before however, and they’re a lot of fun!).

DAY FIVE

South West England

7:20am: Take the Underground to Victoria Station

This was not a morning to sleep in, because it was going to be an absolutely jam-packed day visiting as many outside-the-M25 bucket list sites as possible. Our first stop was Victoria Coach Station, which confusingly is about a 5-10 minute walk away from the Victoria Rail/Underground stations.  

8:00am: Catch the Evan Evans tour of Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford

I’m a big fan of bus tours while on vacations in other countries. Even though when I picture a “bus tour” in my mind, I still imagine stereotypical tourists in Hawaiian t-shirts and socks with sandals loudly asking a local whether they speak English, and even though they have the major downside of a strict schedule and of traveling wherever you go with a crowd, I think they provide great opportunities. 

In our limited time in the UK, and fresh both from a pandemic and into parenthood, I was less concerned about getting enough time to ponder every interesting item in a museum or to do a deep-dive into “real” non-touristy London. 

I wanted to make sure that at the end of the trip, we had hit as many “you have to see it once in your life” items as possible. 

A bus tour allowed us to do just that on a day outside of London. Our time at each place was shorter than we would’ve liked (I almost abandoned the bus so we could have a few extra hours in Oxford and still wish we had), but we seized the opportunity to experience them just the once, a feat that we wouldn’t have been able to manage navigating to each place on our own using trains and public transport. 

The schedule was this:

8am: Leave for Windsor

8:50am: Arrive at Windsor, wait for opening at 9:30

10:00am: Tour the state rooms of Windsor

I recommend having a cup of tea/coffee in the Undercroft and using one of the public bathrooms, which is pretty fancy as a bathroom goes and will give you the ability to say you’ve peed in a castle. You know, if the subject ever comes up. 

11:00am: Run back to the bus, head to Stonehenge

12:30pm: Arrive at Stonehenge

1:00pm: Walk around the stone circle, take as many pictures as possible.

2:30pm: Leave for Oxford

4:00pm: Go on a walking tour of Oxford (although I wouldn’t recommend it, run straight for the Ashmolean or Bodleian Library instead or have a pint at the Eagle and Child and spend your hour really getting to experience one thing. 

5:00pm: Leave for London

7:00pm: Return to hotel 

After such a long day of travel, we took this night to have dinner at the hotel and take it easy. 

DAY SIX

Last Full Day

10:30am: Take Underground to St. James, walk to Buckingham Palace

The nearest Underground stations to Buckingham Palace are St. James Park, Green Park, and Victoria Station. From Green Park or St. James Park, you can usually just follow the crowds to the Palace.

10:45am: Watch the Changing of the Guard

To be frank, I don’t find the Changing of the Guard that interesting, but it’s one of those things you want to be able to say you’ve done once, right? The crowds get pretty intense, but if you can, try to grab a spot on the Victoria Monument, where you’ll be elevated and get a better view. 

The Changing of the Guard doesn’t occur every day, so if you want to see it, you should check the schedule first. I also highly recommend stopping by Buckingham Palace twice, like we did: once to see the ceremony and once for a clearer view of the Palace. 

12:00pm: Ride the London Eye to the top of London!

From Buckingham Palace, it’s a pleasant, sight-filled walk along St. James Park, towards Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, across the Thames on Westminster Bridge, to the London Eye. 

The London Eye costs about £40 per person and your ticket doesn’t give you a time to ride the Eye, but a time to get in the queue. Obviously the queue can be much longer during certain times of the year, but in the off-season, the wait isn’t more than a couple of minutes. 

We got to the Eye a few minutes early and were able to get in line before the time on the ticket. 

I’m personally claustrophobic and acrophobic, but despite being in a small enclosed capsule traveling over 400ft above ground, the London Eye provides a smooth, relaxing journey above London. 

They do stuff about 30 people in one pod, which IMHO is about 10 too many to be able to enjoy the views (you have to rely on the kindness of others not to hog the most iconic view of Buckingham Palace and Westminster), but it’s still a worthwhile and exciting experience. 

1:30pm: Cross Abbey Road (and buy some souvenirs at Abbey Road Studios)!

From the London Eye, we took the Northern Line to St. John’s Wood and walked about 5min to the iconic street crossing on Abbey Road. There’s no street light on the crossing, so the poor motorists in the area do have to wait for tourists to take all of their pictures before driving down the street. To be mindful of the community we were in, I took a video of Chase crossing the street, let cars go, and then crossed myself. 

After crossing, we walked a few houses down to Abbey Road Studios. Even though Abbey Road Studios is most well known for that famous Beatles album and cover, it has a cool and important history beyond the Beatles, as one of the first purpose-made recording studios (opened in 1931). They recorded the famous King’s Speech (transmitted from telephone) as well as the score for The King’s Speech film. Most major recording artists you can name have recorded there (from Glenn Miller, to Pink Floyd, to Lady Gaga), and iconic movie scores for films including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter have been recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

At the studios, you can write on their graffiti wall, wave to family on their street cam and, of course, visit their gift shop. We bought a number of souvenirs. 

3:00pm: Afternoon Tea at the British Museum 

From St. John’s Wood, we took the Underground to the Tottenham Court Road station, and walked a few minutes to the British Museum. It was late in the day, and we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so our first stop in the museum was… the restaurant. 

The British Museum’s restaurant is located at the top of their atrium, which provides a stunning view of the glass ceiling and internal architecture of the museum. We got another afternoon tea here, which was an excellent selection of sandwiches, treats, and scones. 

3:30pm: A Quick Tour the British Museum 

After the quick tea, we went out in search of the museum’s highlights. 

I wouldn’t recommend trying to see everything in the museum. It is absolutely enormous. Instead, my advice is to figure out which highlights you absolutely want to see and scope them out. I also recommend Rick Steve’s audio walking tour (and map!) of the museum.

Here’s a list of 14 highlights that the museum itself lists. And here’s a New York Time’s guide. 

Entry into the British Museum is free.

5:30pm: Stop by Platform 9 ¾ & the British Library

From the British Museum, we walked around Russell Square (spotted one of the last green cabbie shelters), grabbed cappuccinos at Caffe Tropea, and took the Underground from Russell Square to King’s Cross St. Pancras. There, we visited Platform 9 ¾ (join the queue and take a picture, or just enjoy spotting sights from the movies). 

We counted stick around for long because we were meeting friends for dinner in Covent Garden (at the delicious Din Tai Fung), but if we’d had a bit more time, our last stop would have been the outstanding British Library (just down the road from King’s Cross and St. Pancras). 

At the Treasures of the British Library Exhibit, you can see Jane Austen’s writing desk, Shakespeare’s First Folio, the Magna Carta, notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, the Mana Carta, and more. 

Entrance into the British Library and the Treasures Exhibit are free.

DAY SEVEN

Crossing the Pond Pt.2

10:00am: Tour the Museum of Natural History 

After having breakfast and checking out of our hotel, we had two choices for what to do that morning: the place we missed out on due to our missed flight or the planned itinerary item. I let Chase choose and he chose the former, so we walked just across the street to the Museum of Natural History.

The Museum of Natural History would claim that its best sights are its dinosaur and whale skeletons. This is patently false. 

The best sight at the Museum of Natural History is the building itself. It is a cathedral to science, made of terracotta tiles carved into relief sculptures of the flora, fauna, and fossils. The grand central hall is multiple stories in height with large stained glass windows, skylights, and a ceiling painted with endless blocks of gilt botanical illustrations. 

Entry is free, but if you’re visiting during the high season, you can get a ticket reserving a time slot. 

10:00am: Harrods

The other option for us today would have been walking down the road and visiting the famous Harrods department store, getting treats from its famous food hall, and both souvenir shopping for last-minute gifts (in the places we could afford) and window shopping (in the places we couldn’t). 

12:00pm: Take the Underground to Heathrow

Once we’d finished up at the museum, we took the Piccadilly line back to Heathrow airport. It was a longer journey, but we had more time. For international flights, Heathrow doesn’t let you check in/drop your bags until three hours beforehand anyway. Once there, we got some coffee at Cafe Nero while waiting to drop our bags, pretty quickly made our way through security, had one last Fish & Chips at the Terminal 5 Wetherspoons, shopped at the airport’s mini-Harrods store, and boarded our flight home. 

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There is so much to do in London and in the UK that you could spend half a year doing nothing but touring what I would consider “essential sights.” However, I’m really proud of this trip: of everything I was able to fit into it and of the first experience of the UK that I was able to give my husband. 

If you’re planning a trip to London too, I hope this itinerary is helpful to you in planning your own trip!

Steal the Room: The Bridgertons' Morning Room (from Netflix's Bridgerton)

Netflix’s Bridgerton is one of the prettiest TV shows I think I’ve ever seen, rich with flowers and patterns in soft pastel tones. The interiors are lush and feminine and, I think, an excellent source to draw inspiration from if you want to capture a similar feeling in your home. The one that has caught my eye the most is the Bridgerton family’s London morning room.

Stacked Wainscoting

Parma Gray

Codd Fireplace

Blanc de Treillage

Desire Lavender Wallpaper

Walls

The walls of the morning room are lovely and formal, with a soft lavender wallpaper panels framed in box trim against dove grey walls and elegant robin’s egg wainscoting below. They’re maximalist and feminine and give off the vibe of a peaceful Spring morning. While very (very) Regency inspired, they were designed with modern sensibility and aren’t difficult to recreate today.

Paint: Farrow & Ball Parma Grey

Wallpaper: Desire Lavender (Graham & Brown), Antique Lilac (G&B)

Fireplace: Winston Porter Cod Fireplace

Wainscoting & Trim: Wainscoting Paneling Kit (Stacked), Ashford Square Paneling Kit, Legacy PVC wall paneling, Base Cap (“How To” instructions)

Cali Loveseat

Silvia Settee

Bransford Armchair

Relic Oak Pedestal

Kiyola Electric Piano

Piccadilly Table

Riveria Chair

Fallon Desk

Kahl End Table

Curio Cabinet

Furniture

The furniture in the Bridgertons’ morning room does most of the work to establish the viewer in the Regency period, and would be hard to truly replicate without sourcing antiques, but we’ll give it a shot and try to scrounge up a 21st century neoclassical design. The main sitting areas feature settees and armchairs in shades of soft blues and whites and the rest of the room features mid-tone wood furniture. The wood furniture retains a sense of softness with curving lines, and spindly, light silhouettes. It floats in the room. Because borrowing from the Classical era was en vogue in the Regency era, there’s a motif of columns, both architecturally in the room, and in the plant pedestals.

I tried so hard to find ladder back chairs with caned seats, because I kind of fell in love with the ones in the show, but I think the ones I did find are a good nod to the originals.

Decor

Flowers, Grecian statuary, Chinoiserie vases, flowers, silver tea sets, flowers, portraiture, and also flowers fill the Bridgertons’ morning room. The decor in the Bridgerton morning room is elegant, feminine, and floral. I feel like the set decorator tried to make this room feel like an English garden, with the wild, overflowing bouquets and marble statuary, which I think makes it feel incredibly inviting. Silver serving ware, some pretty ceramics, and pastel fabrics complete the look, which I’ve tried to replicate with the items below:

Grecian Bust Lamp

Faux Botanicals

Mandeville Sconce

Chinoiserie Vases

2-Tier Cake Stand

Velvet Curtains

Empire Chandelier

Framed Painting

Cotsworld Willow Rug

Turf Club Card Set

Cafetiere

Trellis Cushion

If you’re interested in learning more, I recommend this wonderful article about set decorator Gina Cromwell’s design process and you can see some of the gorgeous mood boards she used while creating the rooms. Regardless, I hope your home has a happy space for enjoying some macarons and a cup of coffee.

Wishing you romance,

Julia

Steal the Room (mini): Anne's Bedroom

So I know that Persuasion (2022) wasn’t the most well received Austen adaptation, but I for one thought it was perfectly enjoyable. I have also never wanted to steal a room more than Anne’s bedroom. How hideously, beautifully stunning.

Chinoiserie Chic Wallpaper

Fantasy Floral Twilight

Havenview Mural

Turquoise Blooming

Old Frayed Wall

Trailing Orchid

Wall Murals

Obviously, the most attractive feature of the room is the gorgeous Chinoiserie wall mural that, is hand-painted and 300 years old, which means it is utterly unattainable. Luckily, wall murals are in and there are some that, while not as richly detailed and dusky, are workable homages and stunning in their own right. The moulding creates an architectural elegance in the space, and can be approximated with a kit somewhat cheaply.

Pink Upholstered Bed

White Distressed Nightstand

Pink & Blue Tartan

Embroidered Pillow

Books

Brass Candlestick

Brown Glass Vase

White Flowers (Dried)

Furniture and Decor

We only get to see a vignette of the room, mainly this corner with the bed and the nightstand, so we don’t have a full room’s worth of inspiration, but there’s certainly enough to build off. The bed is actually a a Louis XVI style bed and you can buy antiques that look extremely similar (with paint/upholstery differences) and modernized replicas modernized replicas of the style. I chose to hone in on the pink upholstery, however, because I thought that the moody color, in this case, was a more effective element of this bed than the frame. I tried to keep similar lines, with a gently curving headboard and flat upholstery.

The nightstand is also in a Louis XVI style, and though you can find more faithful replicas, I try to find more affordable options where possible and thought the one above still worked quite nicely. If you’re looking to fill out the rest of the room in a similar style, searching for Louis XVI/French Provencial is the way to go. Here’s a decent option for a bookcase and chest of drawers.

The colors in the decor all draw from the mural, pinks, blues, and creamy whites, with some earthy browns mixed in to keep things grounded. It’s pretty typical “Cottagecore” styling, but still lovely.

I hope you enjoyed this mini Steal the Room! Coming up is even more Georgian fun!

Best,

Julia