moby wrap

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Top 10 Newborn Essentials

by Jill
written by Jill

Is a 2 month old a newborn still? What if she weighs 15 lbs already and sleeps in 6-9 month jammies? Regardless, 2 months into this whole parenting gig the second time around and I finally have time to share with you all my Top 10 Newborn Essentials. These are 10 things that make my life with a newborn much easier.

1. iPhone- I didn’t have an iPhone or any kind of smart phone with Kendall in the beginning. Oh, I didn’t know what I was missing! I remember begging Scott to set up a small TV in our bedroom after the first week because I needed *something* to do while I was up all night with him. I can’t even count how many late night infomercials I watched in those early months.

Now? I can read books, reply to emails, chat on Twitter, catch up on Facebook, and even blog all from my iPhone. Many days I don’t have time to crack open my laptop until naptime, but I can check in quickly on my phone throughout the day. Not to mention, I love that I have a camera and video camera with me at all times. Great for capturing those adorable and hilarious moments of life with a newborn and a toddler and sending them to distant family and friends. And the calendar and alerts features have saved me from having to remember all those doctor’s appointments.

2. A good pump– I didn’t pump much with Kendall because all I had was a manual pump, and it just didn’t work out for me. I’m really lucky nothing ever happened that would have made me rely on a freezer stash. This time around I have an AMAZING pump from Hygeia, and as a result, I have an ever-growing freezer stash of breastmilk.

Hygeia sent me the Enjoye electric double pump for free to review, and I started using it just a few days after we brought Leyna home. She refused to latch on to my left nipple after my milk came in, and I was fighting engorgement. Within 2 days I had 10 ounces in the freezer. This pump is SO efficient and SO easy to use, especially compared to the manual I dealt with with Kendall (no wonder I never wanted to use that thing!). I don’t know what I would have done without it. I always bust it out when I feel clogged ducts. So far, no full blown mastitis this time around!

A good pump is a necessity for any working mom who wishes to breastfeed, but even stay at home moms benefit from a pump. It’s always good to have an emergency freezer stash, and wonderful for that morning after the first night your baby sleeps longer than 4 hours and you think your breasts are about to explode.

The Hygeia Enjoye, unlike many other popular electric pumps, is a non-hospital grade breast pump registered with the FDA for multiple users. There is no risk of your milk coming in contact with anything a previous user’s milk touched if you get your own personal accessory set. It’s the “greenest” breast pump because it CAN be used by more than one mother, and when it comes to the end of it’s lifecycle, you can send it back to Hygeia and they will recycle it. As of this year, breast pumps and supplies are now tax deductible and you can use your flex savings account to get reimbursed for your purchase. So go get you a GOOD breast pump!

3. Bouncy Seat– We have quite a few baby apparatuses, and I babywear when I can, but the Fisher Price bouncy seat has seen the most use out of all of them. It’s where Kendall slept for a couple months and where Leyna now sleeps (propped up next to us inside her co-sleeper). It’s also lightweight, easy to move around the house, and a great place to lay baby outside the shower while you clean up, alternating scrubbing your hair and peeking out to check on them.

Plus, we’ve found our babies love to be bounced to sleep. As I type this, Leyna is in her bouncy seat on the floor in front of me napping while I gently bounce her with my feet. There are several designs to choose from. You don’t need anything too fancy, and the lighter, the better.

4. Moby Wrap– A lot of times, babies just want to be held, they want to be close to you. If you want to get anything done (dishes, makeup, going to the bathroom), you’ll have a lot more luck keeping baby close and being semi-productive with one of these. It’s simplicity was intimidating to me at first. It’s just a long piece of fabric you have to learn to wrap and tie a certain way, but once I figured it out, it was a breeze. Both babies loved being snuggled next to me in it. It’s also the only way I can go grocery shopping with both kids. Kendall sits in the front of the cart and Leyna snuggles in the Moby. When Kendall had colic, I could get him to calm many times by putting him in it and going for a bouncy walk outside. Sure, I looked a little silly, but it quieted the screams.

5. Flatfolds as Burp Cloths – All babies spit up, some a lot more than others. We’ve been pretty lucky that neither Kendall nor Leyna have been really messy in this department, but we still use the heck out of these Gerber cloths. They are technically old-fashioned cloth diapers, though I think they work much better as burp cloths and all around baby cleanup cloths. I keep a couple in my diaper bag, and we always have one floating around the living room. They do work as an extra diaper in a pinch, also great for cleaning up blowouts and blowing snotty noses. Down the road, they’ll make great house cleaning rags.

6. White Noise– When I met with Dr. Harvey Karp last week he told me a new study showed that babies who are swaddled and listen to white noise at night sleep on average an extra hour longer. An extra hour  of sleep with a newborn is pretty close to winning the lottery. White noise was great for Kendall when colic was at it’s peak. We even kept CDs (similar to this one) of vacuum and hair dryer noises in both cars. But even beyond colic, he still sleeps with white noise every night from his Homemedics Lullaby Sound Spa. Since we still have the monitor on in his room and Leyna sleeps with us, we all end up listening to the same noises all night.

7. Swaddling Blankets- I’m a believer of the 4th trimester theory, that babies aren’t really *ready* for the world when they are born. I learned all about this in Dr. Harvey Karp’s Happiest Baby On The Block book. We found once we started swaddling Kendall, he calmed much quicker and slept longer. We didn’t hesitate to start this with Leyna. We swaddled her in these sweet Aden & Anais muslin blankets at first (love that they are lightweight!), and quickly moved her into the Miracle Blanket when she got a little bigger and stronger. I like to say the Miracle Blanket is woven threads of baby tranquilizers.

8. Primo EuroBath– We went through 4 different containers to bathe Kendall in, never really loving any of them. The first was a baby sling, which made me cringe. Maybe we were using it wrong, but all it seemed to do was hold his naked wet body up and out of the water. Didn’t look comfortable at all, and seemed incredibly cold. This time around a friend got the Primo EuroBath tub for us and I LOVE it. You use one side for tiny babies, then switch it  around and sit older babies in the other side. For newborns, you can fill it just enough to let them be slightly submerged, and it keeps them in place in a reclined position. You can use it on a countertop, but we just keep ours in the kid’s tub.

9. Boppy–  I use this primarily as a breastfeeding pillow, and while I’ll admit there are more supportive pillows for newborn breastfeeding (like the My Brest Friend), this is still my favorite over all. First of all, the Boppy is easy to use, no straps to deal with. It’s also multi-purpose. It’s great for tummy time, comfy for new moms to sit on when healing after delivery, and it makes an excellent neck pillow while traveling in the car. Make sure you get an extra cover for yours. I find I’m always washing mine.

10. Cloth Diapers– We’re cloth diapering a newborn for a 2nd time, and the love is still there. Again, we’re using Kissaluvs size 0 fitteds with Thirsties covers primarily. I’m sorry to say Sunshine Diapers no longer offers the Kissaluvs Newborn Rental package (epic sad!), but you can buy them used from places like DiaperSwappers, or buy your own new stash and sell them or loan them out when you’re done. I also tried a Fuzzi Bunz XS pocket diaper (sent to me for review at no cost) and quickly fell in love with it. They are more expensive than the fitted diapers, but very convenient and trim. I think they make a great addition to a newborn cloth diaper stash.

Of course, every baby and family is different, and what works great for me and mine may not be a good fit for you. These are just 10 things that make *my* life easier. Do you agree or disagree with any of them? Have any to add? I’d love to make this post a great go-to resource for expecting readers, so feel free to chime in in the comments!

Also, I’ve been working on an Amazon store and all the Amazon product affiliate links above go back to my store. You can find much more than my Newborn Essentials there, so give it a browse. Each product is one I’d feel confident recommending to anyone. I’ll add more to it as I have time. I should note if you purchase through those links, I get a tiny little percent.

Disclosure- Some of the products included in my Newborn Essentials list were sent to me for free to review. They truly earned their spot on this list, and I wasn’t paid to include anything.

Kendall is 2 years, 10 months and Leyna is 2 months old

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Stuff

Shitty economy bonus!

by Jill
written by Jill

Don’t you just love all the great deals you can find right now since our economy has gone down the shitter?  Of course, the downside is that most people can’t even afford the really good deals because…well.. the economy has gone down the shitter.  Either way, just had to do a drive by blog post and tell all of  you that one of my favorite baby essentials – the Moby Wrap – is on super clearance at BabyCenter.com (which will be closing the retail portion of their website in January).  So all of you expecting or new mommies and daddies should really take advantage of this.  I believe you can also get free shipping with an order of $49, so take a few minutes to go through the rest of their clearance section and see what else you can tack on.

Here is a link to an organic Moby Wrap for $28

Here is a link to a beautiful Moby D Wrap for $24

Okay… have to run.  Kendall is napping and I guess I should take this time to clean.. or maybe change out of my PJs.  I dunno.  At this point, it’s much closer to night than morning.  I guess if I’ve stayed in them this long, I should just go ahead and keep them on for tonight.  Perhaps instead I might go enjoy a glass of wine…mmmm… wine.  Peace out bitches, a glass of Shiraz calls my name.

Kendall is around 7 and a half months old…. and SHIT!!  He JUST woke up!

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Cloth Diapers

The good crap and the bad crap

by Jill
written by Jill

Babies need lots of crap. That’s really a large reason why we had to get a bigger place. I mean, I guess you could go all minimalist and not get the bouncer AND the swing AND the playmat, but I challenge you to find something to keep that kid occupied while you get dressed, brush your teeth, and maybe do a load of dishes, because if your baby is anything like mine, he has a very short attention span and will not be happy in just one piece of baby crapola for long. It’s all about the rotation – 15 minutes on playmat while I brush my teeth and make Hailey breakfast – change diaper, nurse – 15 minutes in bouncer while I get dressed and feed dogs – hold baby and carry on babble conversation of nothing but oohs and aahs while delighting in the fact that he is SO close to giggling (even though he will probably be laughing at me making a complete fool of myself) – then into the supercalifanfreakingfuckingtastic Moby Wrap for as long as my back can stand it while I get makeup on (Kendall loves staring at the mirror while I do this) and do some light housework. I still need to put the swing back together, but I fully intend to add this to the rotation soon.

Anyway, the whole point of this post of for me to tell you what crap has been good for us and what crap has been a waste of $$ (at least so far).

Moby Wrap – discussed in previous post – LOVE IT!! I can’t get anything done without this thing, including, many days, peeing. When Kendall was really small I would put him in facing my chest, all curled up in a little ball. He would nap in it for hours, and I solely credit it for making my flights back and forth from DC to Texas almost enjoyable with a one month old. Now that he’s bigger (and at 14 lbs at 10 weeks, he really is getting big) he can face forward, which he loves. It’s also great for babies who, like Kendall, need to be jiggled or bounced to calm down. It really saves your arms. I can pop him in there and bounce up and down, or better yet, sit on my yoga ball and bounce. And, as I mentioned before, this is now our main form of transportation. If I could wear this thing while driving….

Bouncy Seat – The first few weeks of Kendall’s life I thought this thing was a waste until we realized we just weren’t using it the right way. See, just turning on the “Soothing Vibrations” wasn’t nearly soothing enough for him. I credit Scott for realizing that manually bouncing the chair up and down hard enough to get a good jiggle going on was what it took to turn this hunk of junk into our saving grace. We now use it every time we need to get Kendall to fall asleep. Some nights we keep it in between us in bed and take turns bouncing it and some nights I keep it in the pack and play next to the bed, only an arms reach away from a good bounce.

Hooter Hider- I can breastfeed the monster on demand (and trust me, that is very often) whenever we are out without fearing I am flashing anyone or worrying about my rowdy boy ripping a blanket off of me.  I’ve nursed with it on the airplane (try being discreet in that close of quarters!) in many a restaurant and while carrying on a conversation with my grandfather. Nuff said.

Miracle Blanket – SO worth the $30+!  It is the ONLY blanket Kendall can’t bust out of from a swaddle.  Swaddling him is the only thing that gets him to fall asleep at night and KEEP him asleep.  Another bonus is it’s not made out of heavy and hot flannel.   That’s a huge plus in this Texas weather.  I was so desperate for one of these that when I found one at a local boutique I bought it immediately even though the only color they had in stock was PINK *gasp*!   Hey, pink, purple, glittery gold… I don’t care what color the thing is.  It works.  And he looks adorable in it with nothing but his big chubby head sticking out.   My sister was right on the money when she said he looks like a Glowworm in it.

Happiest Baby on the Block – Fabulous book, even better DVD (because what new parent has time to read a book?).  I only wish I would have read/watched it all BEFORE the baby came.  Remember how I went to the ER with Kendall early in the morning on Mother’s Day?  I came home with a scrip for baby Zantac for acid reflux that Kendall doesn’t even have.  If we had read about the 5 S’s before bringing Kendall home, I’m sure that trip could have been avoided.  In hindsight, it seems like his problem was that he was overtired and didn’t know how to put himself to sleep, and we, like the idiot new parents we were, thought if exhaustion was the problem he would have just passed out already.  If you are expecting or know anyone who is – get yourself or them this book or DVD.  Seriously.   (Oh, and since I just watched the DVD for the first time last week I was so happy to learn that Dr. Karp recommends JIGGLING to get a baby to go to sleep!  Yayayayayay!  We are not raising a freak!  All babies like to be jiggled!)

Cloth diapers – Yup.  Call us what you will… earth muffins, tree huggers, crazy hippies…. it’s all very funny to me that those are the images associated with cloth diapering when I really don’t think we are any of those things (not that they are bad!).  I can do a whole new entry on these alone, so I won’t go into too much detail other than to tell you that we have used cloth diapers since Kendall was about a week old and we love them.  They aren’t the old fashioned kind – no pins involved for us.  They are really easy to use and have saved us a ton of money.  We’ve had to use disposables while we traveled and I will say that I hate how often they blowout (meaning Kendall somehow gets shit on his shoulders after an explosive poop) and the bad rash they give Kendall.  The cloth diapers rarely ever give him a rash and are actually pretty easy to maintain.

Blow drier/ Vacuum/ White noise machine – When your kid is screaming their head off do yourself a favor and go turn on every loud appliance in your house.  If you are as lucky as me, it will send them into a trance- like state 75% of the time.  It’s a freakish phenomenon.

Now for the bad crap-

Baby sling for the bath – used it maybe twice when Kendall was really small.  Now he either gets in the shower with Scott or in the bath with me.  And now that we have a nice deep sink in the kitchen, I imagine he will get many a bath in there.

Baby robes – So cute.  So impractical.  If I’m going to fight with my kid to get him dressed after a bath, I’m going to do it once and just put him in his clothes the first time.

Diaper Champ – I think this would be good crap if we didn’t cloth diaper.  The cloth diapers are just too big to get through the hole without a struggle.  We are still using it, but I need to find an alternative.  I shouldn’t have to beat the crap out of the diaper receptacle 12 times a day.  I have other things I should be beating the crap out of (like the 10 BILLION flies that have taken up residence in our new home).

That damn infant seat!! – Okay, this is actually a split decision because when he was much younger and would pass out in it, it was great to be able to just take him out of the car in it and snap it into the stroller frame, but I thought that phase would last much longer than it has.  If I would have known that a) Kendall would detest the thing and scream every minute that he is in it by 8 weeks and that b) Kendall would be a beast and most likely outgrow the thing in 4 months (and that he’s already too freaking heavy to hold in it) I wouldn’t have spent all the money on it and would have opted to go straight into the big carseat.

Now, obviously we have a lot more crap than what is listed above, but those are what stick out in my mind as good or bad.  I’ll let you know if anything changes.

When I left the hospital, the only piece of baby crapola the nurses made sure I knew how to use was the snot sucker out thingy.  I can count on one hand the number of times I have used that thing. But the majority of baby crapola is a pain in the ass to figure out, and do we get any instruction on it?  No.  We have to wait until the baby is screaming at level 10 and we are cussing at the harness because we can’t manage to get piece A and piece B lined up with piece C while simultaneously pressing down on buttons D, E and F.  So take my advice and learn how to use all this crap before you have a screaming newborn to deal with.  And I mean really learn, like practice while holding a bag of flour in one hand… or a cat or something.  Good luck with all your crap.

10 weeks 3 days old

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BabiesThe Story

Prisoner in my own home

by Jill
written by Jill

OMG!  I’m never going to be able to leave this house!  I am sick and tired of being stuck here, but Kendall merely needs to brush against the fabric of the infant car seat to be set off into a complete wail.  He HATES it.  Granted, he has spent an extreme amount of time in there the last couple months with all the cross country driving we’ve been doing.  I don’t blame him.  I want to cry when we get in the car too sometimes.  But this just SUCKS!  I feel like I can’t go anywhere because who really wants to be toting around a screaming baby? I had to shout out my order three times today in the Starbucks drive through to be heard over his hysterical fit.

If he is not screaming, he’s sleeping, and the only way to get him to go to sleep is to jiggle the car seat.  I have to crane my arm behind my back and VIGOROUSLY jiggle the carseat until he dozes off.  Actually, jiggling is the only way to get this kid to sleep anywhere these days.  Screw “calming” and “soothing” vibrations!  I need bouncy seats that sh….errrr…jiggle my kid(don’t want to get reported to CPS by mentioning the “sh…” word).  And someone seriously needs to invent a jiggling infant car seat.  When Scott is driving it’s not so bad since we can take turns (just like we take turns jiggling him in the bouncy seat as he lays in it in between us in bed at night…sometimes I try to get him to sleep in the pack and play by our bed, but I think it’s going to fall apart if I jiggle it anymore….as I type this, I have him in the bouncy seat on the floor with one foot jiggling him), but when it’s just me with Hailey and Kendall in the car I get exhausted after one block.  And I’m sure you can imagine just how unsafe this scenario is.  Not only are carseats not supposed to jiggled for a reason, but I’m fighting veering all over the road while doing it.  Meanwhile, Hailey is yelling “KenDALL!  What is your PROBLEM?!”  Instantly, my supposed exciting escape from this box filled, Easter colored house turns into a giant headache.  I dread putting him in the car as much as I used to dread breastfeeding him.  I know it’s necessary, but I don’t have to be happy about it. The icing on the cake is even if I do succeed at getting him to fall asleep, he awakes the moment my speedometer goes below 40.

The worst thing is now he associates getting into anything with a harness (like his extremely cute/cool/expensive Quinny Buzz stroller) with whatever sort of disdain he has for his carseat.  That means that this pricey stroller that I HAD to have has basically become worthless at this point.  I have hope for when he gets a little bigger and can ride face forward in the stroller seat, but snapping his infant seat into the frame right now is out of the question.  The only way I get this kid around now is in my supercalifreakingfanfukcingtastic Moby Wrap.  I never thought a piece of fabric the length of Interstate 35 could bring me such happiness, or that I would be so willing to spend an additional $40 on another long ass strip of fabric.  I realize my mistake.  I should have skipped the expensive stroller and just gone for lots of super cute wraps – one to match every outfit!  I only have a black one now, but I covet this one on Etsy by seller Loveyduds.  (And now I realize I’m going to have to buy it soon before one of you gets to it first!)

Hmm…this just made me think of another entry I need to write…

10 weeks old

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BabiesThe Story

This is what crazy people do.

by Jill
written by Jill

At the end of May I flew home to Texas from DC for a two week vacation (ha!)/little bro’s HS graduation/baby showoff/house hunting trip. I boarded a plane with a baby one day shy of 4 weeks old and prayed he would sleep through the whole 6 hour journey so I wouldn’t be “that mom” on the plane with “that baby” that everyone wanted to punt. It was incredibly exhausting and draining, though not because Kendall was fussy. He actually did sleep through the majority of the trip, snug as a bug in my Moby Wrap, keeping a close eye on his precious food source with his head resting between my boobs. The problem was that I had only been without a fever from the second case of mastitis in a week for about 24 hours, was running on only 4 hours of sleep since Kendall was still very much a nocturnal creature before leaving, and was breaking out in itchy hives everywhere from a reaction to the antibiotics I was taking for the mastitis. I was worn out from all the misery from the preceding weeks (post delivery week 1 – stitches, crushed tailbone, no sleep – week 2 – stitches, crushed tailbone, no sleep, contact dermatitis – week 3 – stitches, crushed tailbone, no sleep, contact dermatitis, mastitis – week 4- no sleep, insane, hormonal bitch, mastitis, reaction to the meds to help with mastitis) and was overwhelmed by what was ahead of me (travel with newborn by myself halfway across the country, introduce newborn to hundreds of people who will want to touch/kiss/infect him, face my very small hometown crowd at one of the year’s biggest community events at 4 weeks post partum knowing that every girl who hated me in HS will be judging how I look and loving it, drive across the state of TX – a very big state – to Dallas to look for and select a house to buy in 48 hours).

I did make it there alive… barely, and managed to meet up with my dad and his girlfriend at the airport where Kendall met them for the first time and I was happy to pass him off so I could have two free hands to vigorously scratch the hives. We had a fabulous visit and the first few days really weren’t that bad. Kendall finally started settling into a normal sleep schedule, the graduation went great (even though I was accosted by several people who wanted to smear their germs all over my not even immunized yet baby), and we even attended a fabulous “Meet the baby” shower with people who I trusted were icky germ free. Then the real fun began.

A couple months ago we got word that my husband was finally approved for a transfer from DC to Dallas. It was such a relief. As much as we love the DC area, it has never been more blaring obvious that this place is expensive as hell and too far away from family as it is with a newborn and a nearly 4 year old in a crapass, overpriced 2 bedroom apartment. The fact that we can get a very respectable home in TX twice the size of this place for what would only buy us a lean-to in this area was incentive enough to brave the house hunting insanity with a newborn and only my sister for support. (I had to make the trip to TX alone because Scott had to stay here to watch Hailey and the dogs and to finish up some projects at work.)

Our two day house hunt was a success, and after running in to look at countless homes while my sister and real estate agent took turns soothing Kendall in the constantly running rental car (boy, we did a number on the environment and the checkbook those two days), we finally found the one.  Well, it ended up being “the one” after the first “the one” we put a bid on went to someone else (but I’m not bitter…really).  Now, even though the whole house hunting, putting an offer in, countering, financing crap was quite insane and has consumed our lives these last two weeks, I am under no illusion that the worst is over.

No.  We are leaving tomorrow to DRIVE to TX from DC (a 20ish hour drive without a breastfeeding/I constantly want to eat baby) with Kendall, Hailey, 2 dogs, a cat, a moving truck (which we have to pack ourselves tomorrow morning), two vehicles, and (thank the dear Lord) my sister and Scott’s brother- who will no doubt be vital buffers between me and Scott and may actually be able to take credit for saving our marriage after this insane road trip.   And before any of that can even happen we obviously have to pack.  Ha!  I sit here in a sea of mess that is nowhere close to even resembling organized chaos.

So with that said, I guess I should get my ass off of here and go throw some crap in boxes….or the dumpster.  The dumpster is looking far more appealing at this point.  You most likely won’t hear from me until at least next Saturday, and that’s assuming I haven’t committed myself to the first treatment facility inside Texas state lines.  I hope the next time I blog I will be doing so from inside our first home, and I am sure I will have lots of wonderfully wild stories to tell about our magical journey.  This trip should be nothing if not good material.

6 weeks 1 day old.

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