All Things Baby

It seems that many of my friends are having their first babies.

And aren't those first babies exciting--it's all about the unknown. Don't get me wrong, subsequent children are just as exciting; however, there's just something about expecting a baby for the first time. You know...,

before you've been peed, pooped, spit up and thrown up on.

Before you've ever yelled and felt like the worst mom on the planet.

Before you became accustomed to a total of 4 hours of sleep every night for a month.

Before you your body sagged.

Before your eyes looked like...well, I'll leave that one to your imagination. Go ahead, fill in the blank.

I digress..

I do have a ton of mom friends, who of course already have kiddos. But there are several other friends I had before becoming a mother myself--and it seems a little baby bug jumped up and bit many of them. YEAY! I am so happy for them--it's truly an exciting time.

Since I am about to welcome my fifth child sometime in the next month or so, I have been going through tubs and closets to see what we have for baby. What we need. What we should scrub down. And what should be tossed. I've made only a dozen lists of what we still need to purchase, and yes they all mostly list the same items. I just can't keep track of my lists.

Aside from the basic items I always buy right before the baby comes
-diapers
-wipes
-rash ointment
-lotion
-passies
-breast pads

there are things like
-play mat
-bedding
-changing pad cover
- memory box
- decor

that also made my list.

I know you must be wondering why on earth I need bedding. But trust me. Having them so close together has not really helped in passing on the bedding. Only because the baby just older than the new baby is still in her crib and still using her bedding. Suffice it to say, that we now have 5 sets of bedding.

And until this baby, we always went with a set. The set usually contains the bumper (to me this is pretty pointless), one sheet, a comforter and a bed skirt. However, with this baby I was rather stuck on the look I wanted. I could not find anything, within a reasonable price range that was acceptable.

Then this weekend, husband and I went out to the stores and picked up a few things here and some more there; and before we knew it, we had several things for the baby's bed. Slowly but surely it is starting to come together. It's not quite done, but here is a sneak peek. And by the way, this could look a little different soon because a sweet friend has offered to make the quilt I have in mind for my little girl.




We have some shelves up, but other than that the walls are pretty bare right now. There are several things I'm planning to make in the next few weeks to give this room a little lift. And I will post pictures when that all comes together.

In the meantime, I've compiled a list of items that have helped me to make it the past five years in mothering. These items are listed in no particular order (unless otherwise stated... you'll see). Please note that I said these items helped ME. They helped me and my family at that particular time, but I'm thinking they may just help a few other families as well!

1) Here's the one I'm listing first for a reason---it's because it's my all time favorite baby item EVER!

The Angelcare monitor has saved me many upon many hours of sleep. We've all heard about SIDS, and as soon as you become a mother (well, if you're like me) you always worry and assume the worst. Case in point, you have just arrived home from the hospital. You put your beautiful new baby down in her cradle right next to your bed. You are tired, but still running off of the adrenaline shot through your veins after giving birth. You soon climb into bed hoping to get a restful one and half hours of sleep when all of a sudden the thought hits you "what if she stops breathing?" So you sit up in bed so you can lay your hand on her chest to feel it rise and fall. STOP RIGHT THERE!!! While this is fun and sweet at first, the newness wears off after about the 3rd night of doing this. Why? Because you haven't slept in FOREVER and the adrenaline level in your body have drastically declined. You need your sleep--but you're still worried. Well, you can rest assured when you've placed the Angelcare monitor sensor pad under your baby's mattress. This pad picks up the slightest of motion (even the rise and fall of a baby's chest) and alarms you when it hasn't done so for 20 seconds. It works as a normal monitor that has a base in baby's room (or wherever you want to put it) and a mobile parent monitor that you can hear baby on. But it also comes with this sensor pad and sets off an alarm should the baby not breathe for 20 seconds. This alarm can be heard on the parent monitor. This wonderful little mommy helper has seriously paid for itself several times over if you agree with me that you can't put a price on getting peaceful sleep every chance you get as a new mom.

Okay, I swear the rest of my list won't read as cheesy as the Angelcare monitor paragraph. I just can't help but write like that for what I consider the best baby product ever!

Moving on...

2) My Breast friend has been a life-saver.

I breastfed my fourth baby for 13 months. While she was still a young infant and I was still passing in and out of sleep every couple of hours (this makes for a terrible nursing pair), nursing was quite difficult. She was too tired (okay she was too young) to hold her head up. I was too tired to gather all of the necessary pillows needed to assist me with nursing... you get the picture. Enter, My Breast Friend. It is built so ergonomically for everyBODY (you see, it's adjustable) and offers the exact support where you need it-- including your back. Truly a genius woman invented this!

3) If you plan on having the baby sleep next to your bedside, I suggest you invest in a pack 'n play that offers a cradled bed adjacent to a diaper changing station.


Pack 'n plays or, Play yards, come in all shapes and sizes, but now that I'm on my third one I can honestly say I've got it all figured out. We like the duo sleeping/changing area because it not only offers the very obvious place for sleeping, but it also adds that place where you change diapers in the middle of the night. Please, don't allow yourself to become one of those parents who sleep on their own child's pee because at 1, 2:30, 3 and 5 am they woke you up and peed mid-diaper change. And at one of those times they peed in your bed, but you can't remember which one because you're so tired. And yes, I've become one of those parents many times over.

4) If you plan on providing breast milk in some manner, you may find it helpful (for a number of reasons) to pump occasionally.

For my first three children, I pumped exclusively (for reasons that can be discussed in another post). Anyway, you may want to try breastfeeding first and see how you feel about doing it all the time, but it never hurts to read up on breast pumps and find one that works for you. Because trust me, when you decide you want one, it's usually a we need to get this immediately situation, and the last thing you'll want to do is spend the time researching what you want. That being said, I'm going to break it to you... spend the money. I've used several different pumps, but in all of my experiences the more expensive ones do the best. Some will die out on you. Some make awfully loud noises (picture turning this bad boy on with your sleeping partner next to you in bed or possibly at work). Some quickly lose suction. Please, just do your research and if you decide to purchase, buy one that is worth the money.

And here are some things to consider if you are going to pump/breastfeed
~ a car adapter (yes, there are times where you'll find it handy to pump in the car).
~ a more portable pump (like a hand pump or one that will run off of batteries)


~ breast milk storage bags
~ breast pads
~ cream for bleeding/cracked nipples

which brings me to the

5) Nursing cover.

There are several brands out there, but I'd make sure you get one with the boning. This is what allows the mother to peek down at her baby without having to move the cloth away from her neckline. This is sooooooo handy for anybody who plans to nurse!!!! Get at least 3-- one to wash, one to wear, and one to spare.

6) Some kind of swing/bouncy seat. You'll actually probably want both. The bouncy seat is usually portable--and trust me, there will be several instances when you start living your new life as mommy where you'll need to set your baby down and move to another room to get something done (think... cook dinner, take a shower, organize the hall closet...). This is easy to do when you set the babe in the seat and move it to the room with you.

The swing often serves as a comforter.

I've seen my fair share of babies who refuse to sleep unless properly placed in their baby papasan. This can be for a number of reasons, but many babies of GERD (a reflux issue) and sleeping at an incline really helps to soothe these babes. And please note, this is not easily mobile. That's why you have the bouncy seat!

7) Some kind of comfy quilt or a play mat.

According to all the information out there, from day one babies need to have some tummy time in order to strengthen their necks. If you lay a little blanket or play mat down on the floor and place some toys around baby, they will begin to use these muscles.

8) Moby Wrap--

this is the most perfect design for holding baby close to you. Skip the carriers you see in the stores (although, I did actually buy my Moby Wrap at Target)--they hurt your back. The Moby Wrap does not do this. Trust me, you'll thank me for sharing this. I could technically still carry all five of my children in this thing---you know... should I be so inclined.

9) Diaper Genie or something of the sort.

I know some people don't care much for these, but I like them. I don't much care for tossing smelly diapers straight into the trashcan--the room and eventually the house start to stink. At the very least, purchase some green bags that smell fresh to dump the poopy diapers into before you throw them in the trash.

And here are some things that I think can be skipped--

~wipes warmer (do you plan on warming wipes for all the years leading up to potty training?)
~really thin hooded towels (go for the thick ones. In fact, look at homemade ones on etsy.com--they're much warmer)
~shopping cart cover (really, you just never remember)
~baby shoes (seriously, their feet are so incredibly tiny for the first few months. No shoes ever fit my kids really well until they were walking. I think that happens for a reason.)
~ most baby books (sure you can buy them, but they all offer different opinions. Listen first to your gut, second to your trusted care giver and third to your mom and friends--they're last only because they may have had different experiences that what you're experiencing).
~receiving blankets (Ours are used to wrap up baby dolls only because they're too tiny to wrap up a real baby) *you'll want to swaddle your baby and I find that blankets measuring 40x40 work the best. In fact when I make my own, I just ask for a yard or a yard + 1/4 of fabric.

And that about sums it up. I hope this helps you. And please remember that these items only represent me, my life and my experiences. You may have different experiences, but these are all items that I've found helpful (or not so much) over the past five years.

Feel free to comment if you have anything to add or burning questions to ask!