1.) PREP FEEDING TIME! This one may be well known, but I didn't do it until last week when I realized just how tired you are in the middle of the night and how valuable 3 minutes can be! PREP THAT BOTTLE, SON! (not son as in child but son as in the slang way of saying buddy/friend. If you say it nice and loud you can really fit in with the thug kids. I digress.) So this one is easier said than done, especially with breast feeding. Lucky for me, these knockers don't supply milk and we can put out our 3 overnight bottles out with just water so all we have to do is pour 2 scoops of powdery goodness in, shake it up, just in time to make our baby, who's cry now resembles a rapture's scream, end. If your lil pillows of milk are the baby's direct supply of nutrients, you know the way to prep those...good ol pump ahead time. But then you have the pain, so I am not sure how that all works. Good luck, either way! If you can prep in any way, do it. And place something on the area you are sitting that is a nice flat surface for the bottle to rest on (yes, in my delirium before I did this, I got plenty of delicious formula on my couch), and have multiple bibs ready to act as cape on your super baby as she reaches for her belly satisfier. My bassinet has storage I put bibs in, but if you want easy access, you can use a command hook on side of crib to hang a couple for easy access in the weeeee hours of the morning. As a matter of fact just keep bibs and burp cloths in every room. It can't hurt! And command hooks on closet doors (unrelated, but a good tip!)
2.) GET ORGANIZED! Over the past years I have really trained myself to have OCD. I wasn't always type A, and really am still Type B at heart, but it is like smiling, if you keep doing it, you become happy. If you keep organizing, you become insane...er...very neat. I can not tell you the time we have saved by having this little system in lil bean's closet. We have all the frequently used items separated into bins (newborn age, but we will switch out as she ages), and those lil holes let you see right on in, so if you are looking for something specific, you got it! While you are at it, get one of this pop up lights in her closet to light the way! I got the Cube Storage at Target (Circo Brand) and the bins at Dollar Tree (YES save that cash flo'....SON!), but any bins that fit will do the job. Preferably ones you can see through. At this point I have memorized what is in each bin, but when the hubs goes to find something, my lovely LABELING SYSTEM (totally not insane.) makes it easy for him to dress lil bean quickly. Sidenote: She hates getting dressed more than anything in life. The rapture in her comes out as if she has lost her prey. I have never changed myself or anyone else as fast as I change her, it is like a race against myself, fearing what will happen if I take more than 10 seconds.
My ADD caused me to add pink bins in between the green, but you get the idea :)
3.) LEAVE CLOTHING IN THE CAR! This one was a great idea from my dear friend Amanda, and would have come in handy that first car ride back from the hospital! ;) Baby, Mama and Papa should all have one change of clothing JUUUST in case, things go south! Or north!
4.) GET LOUD! This one is not hard for me since I am a loud mouth. And I continue to be. I have known people to whisper and be super quiet around babies and sometimes that can results in babies getting so used to the quiet that they can only sleep when it is quiet. Babies are used to loud noises like heart beat, swishing blood through veins (I know I know, gross...but true.), and mommy's voice echoing in her body through pregnancy. So keep the noise going! Lil bean sleeps through a lot. Between me, my "Flip That House" blaring on the TV, and the vacuum, she will be used to noise. And I like that. I know some may beg to differ, and you may do so. Go ahead. Differ.
OK I won't take it this far.
5.) WHO HAS TIME TO BOIL ALL THOSE THINGS? I thought I did, and I forgot it was boiling. So, idea number 2? Run all of those bottle parts through the dishwasher WITHOUT SOAP...burn those germs out with the hot water and save yourself time...and the risk of a burnt down house due to baby brain. If you DO boil them, try to get them on the right burner ;)
6.) USE FUSSY HOUR TIME WISELY! Give that lil bean a nice warm bath! It is a good use of time, and in our case, calms her right down! Like mama like daughter. I could stay in a warm bath for years. Probably would be pretty wrinkly, though.
7.) STOCK UP AND PRE BUY! If you can afford to and have the storage, become a couponer and stock up to save you trips to the store and emergency errand running in the future. I also look out for clearance items at the end caps at Target and have gotten some amazing deals on future items like sippy cups, toddler fork and spoon and other necessities. Look at for Target's gift card deals, I got one today that was buy 4 household items get 10 dollar gift card. Since we always use paper towels and trash bags, I stocked up and got 10 bucks back! It will save you lots in the long run! You don't need a specific place for storage either, we use our guest bathroom linen closet in the basement for our back stock of big items. Or if you don't have any extra linen closet or space, keep your jackets upstairs and use your entry closet as storage. Bring guests jackets up to the guest room when you have visitors cooing over your little one.
8.) DON'T FORGET ABOUT YOU! Obviously lil bean is number one! But don't forget about you and don't forget about your partner! I have still kept up with my Monday night Bachelorette viewings with my friend and my husband carves out time to continue his music projects. If you don't have a partner see if a friend or family member will come watch baby for an hour or two once a week so you can have some you time. My husband and I also grab time when we can for 'us', whether it be catching up on "Mad Men" (I know, we are a tad behind) or getting take out and snugglin up! And then we have our stroller walks with lil bean that were going SO nicely until we hit a bump in the sidewalk and well...where was that bib?!
I know there are more but brain is quickly oozing out of my ear.
Go ahead and feel free to add more baby tips!
I still can't believe you are here and ours, lil bean.
Bumpless Baby Mama
The idea for extra clothes goes double (triple?) for airplanes. I witnessed a poor mother get barfed on repeatedly by her sick son on a flight last winter. Fortunately she appeared to have several changes of clothes.
ReplyDeleteUgh that sucks! But good she was prepared!!
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