New-born Prep

Nine weeks to go (hopefully not even that)! I am thirty-one weeks today and starting to crackdown on some serious baby-prep. I was fairly organized and "ready" for Al's arrival, but of course learned a few critical things along the way that I think will help me be even more prepared the 2nd time around. 

Baby's room is done. This one is major ( I feel) as I like to have everything ready to go so that when baby is here you aren't trying to balance sleep, feeding (and in my case a toddler) AND decorating and organizing a room. Crib is set up room is organized and stocked with diapers (a lot of diapers) wipes (a lot of wipes) and all baby essentials. Clothes are washed, hung or folded in drawers. Dimmer switch and lamp is set up for overnight feedings. Everything is ready to use on a seconds notice. But to add to this I have everything ready to go for Baby's first few weeks in our room.  Bassinet, portable change table, diapers, wipes, white noise maker, nursing pillow, nursing clothes, you name it! In about 4 weeks I will move this giant pile of stuff into our bedroom and have it ready to use.

With two babes I also had to set up our bath spots. Al will use his regular tub and Baby will use the newborn tub in our room. All wash clothes and towels are divided up, there are bath essentials in each spot for each boy and toys are all sanitized and ready to go.

Next week C and I are mastering a giant freezer cook. I have done this twice before but I think this will be my biggest one yet. Basically we are cooking about 30 meals that will then be frozen until baby arrives. The meals are either "throw in the oven" or "throw in the crockpot". With a hubby that works long long hours I cant expect any help with dinner (or the kids so I can make dinner) so I figure about 30 meals should last us close to two months (what with leftovers and what not). I will dedicate an entire post to the freezer cook so I think that is all I will say for now on this one.

April is a busy busy month for my family, with about 600 birthdays and Easter. So to make life easier I have taken care of all birthday gifts and cards, as well as easter baskets and treats ahead of time. Im still finishing up the Easter prep but it will all be finished before Baby's arrival making my life much easier when Birthday Season ( I mean April) strikes. 

I have also taken the liberty of putting together a few hospital gifts. The first gift is for my little peanut Al. It will be his "big brother" gift from his little brother. I basically got a few things for him he might like to use at the hospital when he comes to visit and afterward. A big brother book, a truck book, a few cars and motorcycles, a cheerio snack car with some yummy mickey mouse treats for inside, stamps and a new DVD. The next gift I prepared was one for hubs. I guess its more of a care package than a gift but it includes magazines, his favourite snacks, a few juices and waters, chocolate cigars, a real cigar to celebrate with, and a bag of change for vending machines. My moms gift was next which is a little thank-you for all the help she gives us. Since she will be watching Al while the big event goes down I though a little thank-you was necessary. Her gift includes a box of table topics, a gift certificate for a nail fill and a photo cube with pictures of her and Al. Im still finishing this one up but that's what I have so far. The last gift I put together was a thank-you basket for my nurses. I didn't have the best care the last post-partum stay I had, but I am hoping to get off on the right foot this time and hopefully with a little thank you basket in tow they will see that I appreciate the service they are providing. Cross your fingers or we're taking the basket with us. Just kidding. Sort of.

Lastly I am making sure all loose ends are tied up. Dogs are up to date on their vet visits and haircuts. Dentist, hair appointments and anything of the sort will be completed before I am 37 weeks giving me tons of time before I need to make any new ones. Last set of nails will be gone in a few weeks, leaving me au-natural for a few months. Basically anything requiring us to leave the house has been taken care of. This also includes a giant Costco run. I did this with Al and it was definitely helpful. We are completely stocked on any household item you can think of, and in bulk size! So nice to have everything you need, in the house and not require any one to run out and grab something. 

The Bed Transition

Well we've done it, another big transition in the life of our Toddler.  Crib to Bed. In the last 6 months we have made some seriously big transitions, all of which I stressed and anticipated, and all of which went very smoothly. Why I thought the bed transition would be any different I have no clue. Probably because in my increasingly hormonal, exhausted and growing belly state I was anxious about the thought of losing any sleep! Anyway with the boys ages falling just 20 months apart (or there abouts) I went back and forth over the idea of keeping Al in his crib or progressing him to his day bed. Back and forth, back and forth. He wasn't showing signs of outgrowing the crib, but did I want to be doing this transition with a newborn. Would he stay in bed or would I lose those precious hours of sleep that I so badly need right now? Well needless to say after our 18-month check up with the Doc we decided to go for it. He basically said now is the time, and when I responded that I didn't think I was ready, he asked me: "So you want to do this when you have two kids?". Touché Doc, touché! So on Friday night we took the front panel of the crib off and put up the day bed railing.

And here it is, he did just fine. Night #1 he went to sleep without getting out of bed and slept the entire night. In fact he slept so well we had to wake him up for swimming lessons on Saturday morning.  He did just the same with his first nap on Saturday afternoon. Night #2 was a success as well. For nap #2 on Sunday afternoon he attempted to get out of bed twice but thanks to my video monitor (seriously one of our best baby purchases EVER) I was able to spot the little weasel and used the talk back feature on the monitor to give him a warning. He laid down after his second attempt and went to bed. We have just finished night #3 and he is doing great.  I know we aren't out of the woods yet but I always wonder why I stress over things as much I do. I am hoping he continues to stay in bed and sleep the night, but if not at least we have 9 more weeks to work on it!

I definitely have no advice for others going through the crib-to-bed transition debate as I think it is entirely different for every babe but I like to share these stories with my blog followers in case it helps in any little way. Oh and because it's always funny to look back at these posts and laugh!

#2 Bedroom

And just like that we are finished another bedroom. Thanks to my partner in crime (hubby) for patiently assisting me with painting, curtain rod hanging, camera mounting and so on. I will take credit for my involvement though! I have started to gain confidence in my picture hanging ability and of course hemming the curtains. Anyway when Al was a little wee babe we had his room done up in clouds and lambs. Lots of soft gender neutral colours, which we just recently swapped out for a more exciting big boy look (see blog post from December). This time we went with an owl and tree look for the baby's room. Still gender neutral with black white and taupe, but not as soft as Al's was. We also threw in some green as well. It has been unofficially decided that Al's colour will be blue and baby's colour will be green. Mostly to differentiate towels, cups and other things that may get mixed up along the way. Anyway enough already, here is the finished product!

Bedding is coming, I had it custom made
so it should be here soon!

And just to conclude I thought I might add how funny it is to look back at how I had Al's room done up as we anxiously awaited his arrival and how we now have baby's room done up while we wait for him. There are many differences in the items I have stocked and the things that I knew were critical to have in the room. First time around you just have no idea. I feel like this time I am a lot more prepared with useful and essential items versus cute decorations and things inconveniently packed or placed. 

Newborn Must-Haves

We've been so busy preparing for baby that I have completely neglected my poor blog. But I am back with a few fun posts, baby related of course. To start it off I thought I would share a few of my "Must-Have Baby Items". Now that I have been through one newborn I have a bit more of an idea what I need for when #2 comes home with us. So here goes what I consider my must have items for newborns.

Dimmer switch, must have! We installed one with Al and I found it worked great for overnight feeds. Way better than a lamp. So before #2 has even arrived I made sure we installed one. And another must have on this topic is black out blinds. I like to sleep train baby to understand sleeping at night is pitch black and sleeping during the day is dark, but has some daylight peeking in. Blackout blinds make this so much easier.

Next item, Sleep Sheep. Or any white noise maker for that matter. Again I use it for sleep training, daytime sleeping is full of daytime noises but nighttime sleeping is the sound of rain or ocean provided by the Sheep. Al is almost 18 months and uses his sleep sheep every night. I have even watched him (on the video monitor) stand up in the middle of a nap or middle of the night, turn on his sleep sheep and lay back down and drift off to sleep. He knows what he likes!

Double electric breast pump. These bad boys are not cheap but it was a fundamental item that I used daily for at least 6 months. It was how I could allow Sandy to be a part of feeding our little guy, or how I could get a few hours to myself and ensure baby was still fed, and that I wasn't completely engorged. This pump is the greatest. I also got a steal of a deal by finding this unit on Kijiji. I know you're probably thinking "gross" that goes on your breasts. Duh, I definitely sterilized it! Honestly its a $400 item that was so essential to daily life, and I spent under $200. Renting is always a fantastic idea too, incase you aren't sure breastfeeding is for you, or might not work, that way you don't spend a ton of money only to not use it (like the lady I bought mine off of).

City Select Baby Jogger. This stroller has been a miracle on four wheels. It is a double stroller that can be used as a single or double, with either two seats or a seat and a bucket. It is fantastic for jogging, and I would know as I trained for an ultra marathon with it! Al and I ran with this bad boy 3 times a week for over 6 months and I have no complaints about it as a running stroller. It is simple to fold and take apart. We have bought a few accessories for it as well, including the snack tray, second seat, rain cover and travel bag. Honestly another pricey baby item but I LOVE it and would recommend this stroller to anyone considering having more than one child! 

Wipe warmer. A silly little luxury item that isn't a necessity to life but for $20.00 at Costco I think it was great. If you woke up at 2:00am to go to the washroom and had to wipe your underside with a chilly wet cloth, Im pretty sure you would howl too! Why not make it more comfortable for the little one, and hopefully eliminate a few face showers in the process (mama's of boys, you know what kind of face showers I'm talking about).

Lastly the baby's sleepwear is so important (to me at least). During daily diaper changes you have all the time in the world to snap cute little outfits back together. At night it is a different story. Who wants to be aligning buttons and snaps at 3:00am in the semi-dark while one of you is screaming hungry and both of you are exhausted. That's what I thought. So my MUST HAVE baby sleepwear are sleepers with zippers, and sleepers with a scrunch bottom. Honestly a life saver! Quick change and get to the eating part with less tears and sleep disruption. 

Here are a couple newborn brand names that are critical in the beginning, that I swear by.

Pampers, love em! And heres why, when you are changing bums, the flaps don't fold in. The competitor brand has a flimsier velcro strap and tend to fold in when they are used, resulting in poopy velcro straps. Yuck. Not pampers though.Desitin is my bum rash cream of choice. I tried many bum creams, but I swear by Desitin. Every mama has their favourite but this is mine. Ovol. For those tiny tummy aches from gas. Poor little guys, I find the Ovol definitely helps!

A couple more items, starting with the microwave sterilizer. Great for bottle fed baby or breastfed baby. You have so many items to sterilize, this makes the process quick and easy! And in your sleep deprived state you wont forgot about a pot of boiling water and all your items. The microwave will do its thing and wait for you to remember what you were in the middle of!

On the topic of sterilizing and sanitizing. Hand sanitizer. We keep one pump bottle beside the change table to keep hands clean post-bum change and pre-feed. clean hands are important. 

Bath hammock is essential for newborn bathing. We also found it helpful to loosely wrap baby in a receiving blanket and unwrap body parts as it was necessary to wash them. This way baby stays warm and happy in the bath and you don't have to rush through the relaxing bath process.

Latchy-Catchy, made by a wonderful shop on Etsy. These bad boys warp around both doorhandles and cover the latch of the door. When you open and close the door it is silent! No worrying about opening the door quietly, simply push or pull and there is no noise. We love ours!

Carseat mirror is great for while you are driving. When baby starts to fuss you can simply glance into your mirror to see what is going on. Much safer than trying to twist around and becoming distracted while driving. Plus it is something extra for baby to look at as he gets older.

Glider Chair and Nursing pillow. Fundamental for comfortable feeding overnight. I think these two items were amazing for overnight feeds and I would not sacrifice them.

Lastly the video monitor. We did not have this with Al but decided to get this as it is a dual monitor, meaning I can see and hear both babies on one device! Brilliant. We have only used it in single camera mode but it has already been amazing. I cant believe we didn't have a video monitor from the start. Again not a life neccessity but I think its been an amazingly helpful luxury item. I did a lot of research to figure out which dual video monitor would be best and found this brand (Summer Infant) had the best reviews. We've been using ours for a few months and I love it!

So there you have it, my list of Must-Have Newborn Items.I know not all of these items are critical for the survival of a newborn but they are items that have helped me with the transition of a new little peanut in our home. I hope you find this list fun and humorous if not helpful!

*****

I have had a ton of inquiries about this blog post, in particular the latch-catchy's so here is a link to the shop on Etsy that makes these bad boys. 

Latchy-Catchy Etsy Shop Link.