The collection includes five unique products: Graco Alano™ FlipIt™ Reversible Handle Travel System, Graco DuoDiner™ 3-in-1 Highchair, Graco Nautilus™ 3-in-1 Car Seat, Graco Pack ‘N Play ® Silhouette™ Playard and Graco Duo™ 2-in-1 Swing & Bouncer.

Check out some of the features that make this collection a must-have for new parents:

Graco Alano™ FlipIt™ Reversible Handle Travel System:

- The Alano Flip It has a unique reversible handle feature so your baby can face you, or face the world

- This stroller grows with your child from infant to toddler and can be used up to 50 lbs.

Graco DuoDiner™ 3-in-1 Highchair

- The DuoDiner highchair grows with your child from infant to toddler and converts to a space-saving booster

Graco Nautilus™ 3-in-1 Car Seat

- The Nautilus helps keep your child secure in a 5-point harness, from 20-65 lbs and then converts to a belt-positioning booster from 30-100 lbs

- This car seat is designed to allow you to transition into either a Highback or Backless booster for a comfortable fit for your child up to 100 lbs

Graco Pack ‘N Play® Silhouette Playard

- This Playard is the perfect place for baby to nap and play

- The Silhouette Pack ‘N Play includes an infant bassinet, playard and posture-plus changing table for your comfort

Graco Duo™ 2-in-1 Swing & Bouncer

- The Duo 2-in-1 Swing and Bouncer includes both a swing and bouncer to soothe and amuse your baby

- This is a great option because it allows you to save money and space without having to buy two products

The entire Graco Sprout ‘N Grow collection is available in the adorable Sweetpea fashion.

Be sure to check it out at Target this week for a $10 savings on each item. Don’t miss your chance to get all of the essentials for your baby to grow with. Happy Shopping!

1. Infant Car Seat. You can’t leave the hospital without one. Selecting a car seat is an extremely important decision, so please do your research. Make sure you select a car seat that will fit your child, fit your car and that you can use correctly every time.

I suggest going online first to narrow down which brands of car seats you are considering (or talk to your friends to see which one they would recommend). Then go into the store & make sure that you are comfortable with the functionality of the seat. Ask questions! Also, ask the store associate if you can bring the car seat out to your car to make sure that are comfortable with it fitting in the car.

And don’t forget to check out www.gracobaby.com to see our car seat installation videos before installing your car seat. My top pick is the SnugRide 35–it holds babies from 5-35 lbs and has lots of great fashions to choose from.

2. Stroller. You are going to want to show off that adorable little baby! Make sure you consider your lifestlye before buying your stroller (do you live in the city? Do you travel a lot? Are you outdoors frequently?) That will determine if you want a more lightweight stroller or something a little heavier and full-featured. Remember, all Graco infant car seats snap into most Graco strollers so you can create your own travel system or buy a pre-packaged one. My pick is the Alano FlipIt since the handle flips so you can see your baby while you are out and about.

3. Playard. I am sure a lot of people are told to get a playard but may not know exactly why. Well, the playard becomes your “family room care station” for your little one. Basically, you can eliminate running up and down the stairs ten times a day to find diapers, get diaper cream, etc. Different playards have different features, but many include a bassinet, changing table, and diaper organizer. Some newer models even have newborn napping stations!

4. Swing. Since babies are used to constant motion when they are in your belly for 9 months, the motion of a swing continues that familiar and calming action. Add a pacifier for an additional soothing method (check out Dr. Karp’s 5 S soothing method) and your baby will be cooing with contentment in no time. For Pinkie Pie, I used the Sweetpeace swing which allowed me to customize the swinging motions as well as having a MP3 hook up for my own lullaby play list.

5. Highchair. Some people forget to add a highchair to their registry. But, when Baby is 6 months old, you are going to need it! Some of the new highchairs provide multi-functions, like the one PP is using, DuoDiner. What’s great about DuoDiner is that it becomes a booster chair so when you want Baby to sit at the table with the rest of the family, you don’t have to buy another product. PP is now officially sitting at the table in her booster seat (but in the picture above, I’m showing PP before her graduation to the table).

There are still so many other things that you are going to need on your registry, like diapers, wipes, bibs, towels, etc… but I will leave that one for a future post!

Until then, Happy Registering!

So starting soon, Graco will be giving away one Alano™ FlipIt™ Travel System a month!

All you’ll need to do is sign up to receive our new monthly e-mail on baby and children’s fashion trends and be entered to win a reversible handle travel system.

To help us get ready for the big launch of our new e-mail series, tell us your thoughts on Graco fashion, baby trends, and/or fashion in general.

We will pick the best comments to feature in our first e-mail, and who knows, you might just help inspire the next big trend in baby gear fashion! (Please post your comments by April 23rd, 2010 for consideration. )

Stay tuned for more details and how to sign up!

We’ve rearranged the layout of the info to help you find important details like features, product specifications, and product care and instruction sheets more easily.

We’ve included a link to view the complete collection for any product that is part of a group of products that have the same fashion – this makes it easy to find products that match and coordinate.

One of our coolest new features is the product demo tool. The Alano FlipIt and the DuoDiner product pages include this new demo feature. It gives you the ability to see how the products work, as well as see in-depth information on all of the features and functionality specific to the product. The Alano FlipIt demo also includes a video!

Check out the demo feature and the newly redesigned product pages at gracobaby.com. Keep checking back to see the latest product demos and videos, and as always, please let us know what you think.

As babies grow into toddlers, they take on a new persona of independence. They start wanting to try and walk, feed themselves, get themselves dressed, etc. As parents, so many of us have heard the phrase “I do it” from a toddler at one point or another. Amazing how such a tiny person can have such a loud voice. I find myself wondering, how do parents stay connected with their children and keep nurturing that initial bond as they scream for independence?

Time goes by so fast. Before you know it, your baby is five years old and heading to kindergarten. Amidst going to work and facing all life’s little challenges, DH and I have made an extra effort to stay closely bonded to our children. We choose to incorporate little ones into our own established hobbies or favorite past times and create new ones based on their personalities as well. For example, DH loves college basketball. To put his love into perspective for you, March was the only month off-limits when it came to planning our wedding date. Now with children we have the introduction of mini toy hoops and soft basketballs for playtime. Game time outs and commercial breaks are filled with mini slam dunks and tons of giggles from all three of the juveniles in the living room.

For me, I like to cook, so it’s fabulous for Baby and I to spend time together in the kitchen. We bake and create, and with every recipe we add hugs, kisses and giggles into the mix. From the child side, Baby is a lover of books. DH and I both make a point to fit in snuggle/reading time a few nights a weeks before bedtime. That face-to-face time is so important to Baby as well as for us as parents.

Making time for our children sometimes takes precedence over makin sure all the dirty dishes are in the dishwasher after dinner or folding that load of laundry that’s in the dryer, but to be honest…I am really ok with that.

How do you continue to bond with your child as they grow? Do you have any tips to share?

The Alano FlipIt stroller is one our newest strollers to hit the market–and one of my favorite innovative features about this product is the reversible (and adjustable!) handle. When Pudding Pop was Pinkie Pie’s age, I used a traditional stroller (baby faces out). Now with Pinkie Pie, I had the chance to use a stroller which gives you the option to face your baby while strolling around.

The reversible handle feature is useful in so many ways. First, there’s the practicality of it – it’s easy to flip the handle so you can quickly calm a fussy baby (no need to remove or flip the seat), or you can see if her pacifier falls out (or in my case, see if your baby has spit up in order to quickly clean her up – no one saw that, right?!).

But beyond that, I really love using the stroller to walk with Pinkie Pie facing me (which is what I have been doing) since I love to see her adorable little smiling face. Plus, I really feel like it gives me more time to connect with her while we’re out and about. I can point out colors and words, try to make her giggle and share what I’m doing with her while we walk. I love bonding with Pinkie Pie and now I have another way to do that.

The reversible handle is not the only great feature on this stroller–there are still the all-important features like a large basket, parent cup holder (this is really cool since it pivots to remain upright when you flip the handle so you can always have your drink close at hand), and it has a one hand, self-standing fold to help with an easy in & out of the car trunk.

Once PP saw Pinkie Pie in this stroller, she wanted to get in too. PP is now almost 4 years old but I think she sometimes wants to be mommy’s little baby too. So, PP hopped in the stroller too for a test drive. She loved being able to see me & chat with me while we took a post lunch stroll around the neighborhood (and made me go around the block several times since she enjoyed it so much!)

I’m so glad I had the chance to try out this stroller and I’ll continue to use it to keep connecting with my girls while we’re out shopping or strolling around the neighborhood. I love being able to have extra face-to-face time with them and this another way to keep doing that!

How do you connect with your baby?