New Baby Must-Haves

Does it ever feel like once you do something, it seems like you notice everyone else is doing the same thing?  Ever bought a new car, then it seems like everyone else on the road is driving the same car?  Once I had a baby, it seemed like everyone else was too. When I was pregnant, I searched/viewed a lot of lists (primarily found on Pinterest) of the "must-have" items to prepare you for your new baby.  But the following is a (short) list of the things I never saw on a list that I now tell everyone who is expecting to get, because I can speak from experience they will really make this new adventure so much easier.

1. The Book to Read
If you can only read one book, read this one.  Or don't even read it: there's even a video version you can watch (which I haven't seen, but I liked the book. Its an easy read, and then you have it for reference.) Happiest Baby on the Block is about as close to a newborn how-to manual as you will ever get.  I can't encourage this read enough.  If you follow the 5 S's explained in the book, you will know what to do when your newborn cries and be able to quickly soothe them.  There was maybe only one time in the first 6 months of my son's life that I couldn't stop his crying in less than 5 minutes.  And within the first 2 months of his life, he was sleeping an average of 6-7 hours straight per night.  Both my own mother and my mother-in-law said they wish they'd had this book when they had kids.  It makes so much sense and gives you the knowledge and confidence that you know what to do when your newborn cries.

2.  The Multi-Purpose Yoga Ball
This is an item I already had before becoming pregnant, but if I hadn't had it, I would definitely have gotten.  This serves great purposes before and after the baby is born.
As you near the end of your 9+ months of pregnancy, being comfortable in your own body can be challenging.  With the yoga ball, you can stretch your hips and back in baby-safe positions.  It distributes your weight differently across your hips when you are sitting, and can ease some pressure discomfort. I would sit on it in the living room while watching TV in the evenings.
But the best advice I got:  near the end of your pregnancy, sit on the ball and bounce slightly for a few minutes a day.  This will introduce the motion to your baby in the womb.  Then, once they are born, you can hold them and sit on the ball and bounce in the same way, and it will have a calming effect on them, as it will simulate the womb experience which will comfort them (see above book).  And this will be something anyone holding the baby can do, so dad or grandma can provide the same comfort to baby.  And trust me, your knees will thank you.

3.  The Swaddle Transitioner
If you read the book above, or pay any attention to how the nurses wrap your newborn in the hospital, you will know that swaddling is very comforting to a newborn.  But they don't need the confines of a tightly wrapped blanket forever.  My son could not sleep without being tightly swaddled for the first 4+ months of his life.  But then he started to want more freedom to move, but hadn't completely grown out of the moro reflex (again, read the book above) that caused him to start in his sleep and wake himself up.  A friend of mine who had already gone through this with her sons, told me about these sacks called the Zipadee-zip.  It looks pretty funny-- like a starfish. The ladies at my son's daycare had never seen anything like them, and laughed--but the length of my son's naps increased when he slept in these, which he did for a couple months until he didn't need them any longer.  They come in cute patters, in warm fleece fabric and cooler cotton fabric. I got one of each fabric: cotton for day naps, fleece at night.

Hope one or all of these items help you in this new adventure.  Remember to enjoy it, because time goes SO fast!

What are some unusual items that have helped you with your newborns?

Monday Madness

This morning was one of THOSE mornings. One of those mornings with a crawling baby who is now getting in to EVERYTHING. Like from a movie: he thinks its the funnest thing for the dog to lick him in the mouth, and while the dog likes to lick him in the mouth, Mom does not like the dog licking him in the mouth, so dog gets in trouble.  Dog goes to her bed to stay away from baby, but baby crawls to dog. Dog growls. Mom hollers. Baby thinks its just so funny. "I don't laugh when you tickle me, mom, but I'll laugh when you hollar at me and my sister-dog."

So mom attempts to remove the temptation and bring baby in bedroom where she is getting ready, forgetting that the day before while cleaning the front room, she moved a large picture frame into the bedroom and its leaning against the wall in baby range (awaiting to be hung). So of course baby immediately crawls over and pulls the frame over on to his head (no injuries), and while mom is moving the frame to the other side of the room, baby crawls over to dad's night stand and pulls a cup of water down (again, no injuries, just mess.)

To add frustrating elements to this circus, its already hot and humid at 7a, and there is no air conditioning in our apartment.  So mom is trying to get put together to go to work, and despite a morning shower is continuing to sweat. Work outside the home is like a vacation from the work that is non-stop with an infant.  I am so thankful baby has a good daycare that he enjoys going to.

The above chaios was only 30 min of my day.  So needless to say, anything that makes some aspect of a working mommy's life easier is something I'm willing to try.  Meal planning is an area that I need help with. I love to eat, and don't mind to cook, but the challenges I encounter with this on a weekly basis are that I have limited time to prepare dinner (so recipes need to be quick), I want the meals to be healthy (but my husband wants a form of substantial protien, read: meat, with just about every meal), and I don't want to waste ingredients, so I want to use what I have on hand, or have a plan for the week that uses similar ingredients without eating the same thing all week. Its hard to shop fresh for essentially just 2 people and use everything before it goes bad.

Thats why I love this site/app: Pepperplate.  You set up a profile on the website, and download the app to your mobile device and log in with the profile you created on line. Then the site and app sync, and continue to do so whenever you make a change in one.

With this program you can save and store all your favorite recipes in one place, give them filters so you can sort them easily (20 minute meals anyone?), make a weekly meal schedule, and there's a shopping list that you can add a recipe to and it will update your list with all the ingredients, and you can check off what you already have at home. 

What especially love is that Pepperplate had coordinated with a couple dozen other food/recipe sites and when you want to import one of the recipes from those sites to Pepperplate, you just copy the link to the webpage and it imports automatically (you can manually enter recipes as well.)

It takes about 10-15 minutes for your initial set up (creating an account and adding some recipes to get started) but once you do, then you'll always have recipe ideas at your finger tips, consolidated into one place.  And the shopping list feature is great, bc you can see what ingredients you need that overlap with the other recipes.

 

I've had several successful weeks of planned meals, thanks to this app.  And less wasted food.  So at least my evenings are a little calmer, despite how the days start out.

I'm curious to know how it works for you.