A return to blogging with “Not your average mommy-must-have list”

I’M BACK! Hello again blogosphere! (do people still call it that?)  I’m back on the blogging train and decided I won’t bore my 2 readers with what happened since I stopped writing here.  BUT I will say, since I’ve stopped blogging in October, a lot has happened.

Those of you who know about the health scare we had, it’s over. It was nothing more than just that, a scare. For those of you who don’t know, you probably won’t. But I can tell you it is what led to my long/yet temporary halt in blogging. I may one day share all of the details, but I won’t allow myself to go back to the dark place I was in at the time so we’re going to keep it moving right along.

Things are crazy here in Mrs. Waldo’s World. But really, we wouldn’t have it any other way. It seems like I’ll be at a wedding or some sort of shower every single weekend this summer. I have multiple family members getting married, and multiple friends having babies. With that said, I’ve had a lot of questions about planning nuptials and planning for baby. So it got me thinking about a series of posts I’d like to do. Starting with baby stuff.

A co-worker asked me recently about what baby items she should put on her registry. I thought briefly about it, and offered her the list you’re about to see.

**Understand this, most people are going to say things like, “Boppy pillow.” (which IS a necessity if you ask me). And then they’ll tell you why a Diaper Genie is a waste or a changing table is stupid. (I use both such things and happen to love them). My point? Get what you want. If you want a fancy schmancy crib that costs $1K, do it. More power to ya. BUT there are things people never told me to buy. I didn’t even know what some of these next things were – until the munchkin needed them. And by needing them I mean, NEEDED them within the first few days of life. ***

[Warning: if you’re not into poop talk, just stop reading this now.]

A butt thermometer

You’re a budding, beautiful first time mom. You’re only the 2^nd trimester so the swelling, and kankles and carpal tunnel haven’t kicked in yet. And you’re still able to sleep through the night without waking to pee 7 to 9 times. You want the BEST for your baby so you register and receive a digital thermometer that not only scans your newborns body temp, but doubles as a water temp thermometer so you don’t burn your precious one’s bottom when bathing them. I, too, have one of those thermometers sitting in one of the changing table’s cubby holes. It’s been used 2 times. Once to test it, and once as a toy/distraction to get my child to stop wiggling while changing a poopy diaper.  Have I EVER checked the baby’s bath water with it? HELL NO. I stick my foot in the bath tub and if it’s too hot for me, it’s too hot for baby.

If you are the beautiful, budding first time mom I mentioned – you’re gonna worry like NO OTHER once the little one makes his/her grand entrance. You’re also going to believe your child is sick with a different illness each day. So you’re going to check his/her temp. And check it a lot. Guess what. The only way to get an accurate reading is through the bum bum. Here’s the one I have. Get this one or one like it. You’ll thank me later when you’re convinced he/she has a fever but the temp reads 96.1.  You can then relax for about 45 minutes. If you’re lucky.

 

 

Gripe Water

This stuff is awesome. I hated that my baby got the hiccups all the time and wanted to something about it. So I did a few searches with my good friend Google and came across a recommendation for it. So naturally, if the Interweb approved, I had to try it. There are a ton of brands that make it, but I personally used Wellements Organic Gripe Water for colic. I am in no way, shape, or form one of those people who must have organic everything. But I did like the fact that this brand in particular offered an organic option so I went with it. I’m sure the other brands aren’t much different, but it worked on soothing the babe’s hiccups and calming her down when she would be particularly uncomfortable. Have in house, ready to go before you give birth. Ps. Gripe water is NOT for gas. It’s for reflux related problems (ie. Hiccups, spit up, etc.).

 

Gas drops

Yea, who knew babies needed gas drops. I didn’t. Luckily, we didn’t have too many issues with gas. BUT the few times we knew she was uncomfortable and especially farty, we used the drops and they seemed to help almost instantly. Some mothers put the drops in every bottle or use with every feeding. Consult with your pediatrician, but if I remember correctly the dosage on the bottle allows for 2 drops every hour or something. So unless your child is eating more than that, you should be good to go. Again, there are several brands. I went with Little Tummys. No reason other than I liked the packaging… I also found a Target brand that came in packs of 2 that was significantly cheaper and used those as well.

 

Blooming Bath

OK, so it’s not a “must have,” but it’s my favorite baby product I bought for myself. It’s a large flower shaped sponge that fits perfectly into any sink. It cushions the sink and provides a sense of comfort for the little one’s first bath times. I used my blooming bath nearly every day – even when we transitioned into the bath tub. We stopped using it when she could really start moving around. But I love this product and will endorse it as much as I can. I would even wet it down with really hot water several minutes before running the bath water so it would stay warm throughout the bath. They come in several different colors and are sold mostly online, but may be available in some stores near you. Check their website.

 

Newborn onesies, clothing

Everyone is going to say, “they grow out of newborn sizes so fast!” Well, duh. But you still need them! When I went to the hospital I packed 3 days worth of newborn size sleepers (sleep and plays). When I got home I thought I had drawers full of clothing… and I did… except NONE of it fit. I had to send my mom out to get me newborn size white T-shirts and more sleep and plays. Also, skip the cutesy outfits for the first few weeks. The babe is so small that anything that doesn’t snap or button at the crotch rides up and looks (likely feels) terribly uncomfortable. I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to what my child wears, but let me tell ya – you’re not going to be sorry having 15 to 20 newborn size sleep and plays,  and a boatload of those white t-shirts. Carter’s makes most of their newborn stuff with mittens attached (oh, you’re having a July baby? You still need them). By mittens, I mean that extra piece of fabric that folds over the tiny one’s hands. If your child is anything like mine, they’ll come out with razor blade nails.

 

Infant nail trimmers

This may seem obvious, but it wasn’t obvious to me. I didn’t have these when we brought our baby home. So for a few days I tried biting, filing, and peeling her little tiny nails so she wouldn’t cut up her face when she didn’t have the mittens I mentioned above on. I have this pair and use them weekly on my now extremely wiggly 14-month-old. What’s nice about this pair is that there’s a light on it so when you are trimming up those nails, it aims the light on the nail so you can really see what you’re doing. Oh, and don’t worry. You will screw up and make your child bleed. It happens.

 

Miralax

OK, so you can’t really put this on your registry. But buy it now and save yourself the trip after you have your child. The first poop after giving birth is just as scary as that first contraction, and you literally feel like you’re intestines are going to fall through your butt hole. Miralax helps. Trust me.

 

What are you favorite, not-so-obvious, baby items? Comment below. (I was not paid or asked to endorse any of the products in this blog post. I really really do use and like them.)

 

Party planner: Gender Reveal

Since planning my wedding, I have been obsessed with event/party planning. Pinterest didn’t blow up until after my wedding in 2011, so I didn’t have that to reference but I still had a ton of small, intricate, original details. The whole year of planning made me want to get in to the wedding planning business and I still hope someday I’ll be able to do it.

I’ve thrown quite a few parties since my wedding and am currently planning a New Year’s Eve party and my daughter’s first birthday party. (I started planning her party before I was off maternity leave … that’s how obsessed I am with that one.)

To-date, my favorite party I’ve planned was our gender reveal party. If you’re not familiar, it’s a semi-new concept in the world of baby-making. When you go to your sonogram to find out what you’re having, you ask the tech to scribble the gender down and put it in a sealed envelope. Then a few days later you find out the gender of your new baby together with all of your friends and family.

This party was totally Pinterest-inspired, with a few details thought up on my own.

I chose to go with a “Whoo will it be” theme, complete with pink and blue owls. I decided on the theme based on these invites I found on Etsy.

(TIP: A lot of graphic artists sell their designs on Etsy. You pay for the design, they send it to your email and then you print as you please. For less than $20 you can get an awesome design. I always send them to be printed at a professional printer and then glue the invite to coordinating card stock to add a more handmade/fancy feel)

I handmade all of the decorations: this included several pink/blue owls out of construction paper and a bunting banner that I hung above the dessert table.

The dessert table included pink/blue owl cupcakes, pink/blue Kool Aid (with mason jars and pink/blue stripped straws with straw flags), Hershey bars (with HE and SHE colored), Sour patch kids, homemade pink/blue thumbprints (by my mom) and pink/blue chocolate covered pretzels everyone got as a favor for coming.

(TIP: I made the pretzels using molds from Joann Fabrics. If I can do it, so you can you. They make molds for everything!)

Additionally, I asked everyone who was coming to wear pink or blue to indicate what they thought we were having. I also had everyone pose with a “team pink” or “team blue” sign when they got there. We had close to 50 people at the party and it was split down the middle! Here’s a pic of my adorable nieces casting their vote!

I opted for balloons in a box for the reveal. This took some planning with the balloon people (and a lot of explaining to the old ladies who didn’t quite understand at first.)   A friend of mine had another friend use the same approach at her party a few weeks prior, so she gave me her reveal box. I had planned on making mine, but this one was adorable so I saved myself the time!

The day of the party we took the box to our local grocery store’s floral department. (We had spoken to them a few days prior so they knew what to expect). We gave them the box and our sealed envelope. The lovely workers then put 6 weighted and as many other un-weighted balloons that could fit inside. We roamed around the store until they paged us back to tell us it was ready.

 (TIP: Tell your sonogram tech to wrap the paper with the gender in another piece of paper before putting it in the envelope. My husband actually saw through the envelope and knew what we were having THE DAY OF THE SONAGRAM but he kept it a secret from me for an entire week!)

After everyone arrived we congregated outside and ripped open the box. Here’s our (my) reaction:

Additional details included “Blue” Moon beer and “Pink” champagne punch (for those of us who weren’t pregnant). Handmade tissue poms hung throughout our garage/house and $1 store pink/blue table clothes to cover up the nasty garage ceiling (it made it look like a circus tent!) Plus, Christmas lights and streamers hung in the garage to give it a more cozy feeling. (We have a fabulous finished basement but used the garage for the food so there would be enough room for everyone).

I was wrong…

Boy was I wrong.

I logged back onto this blog just one day after announcing our pregnancy to our parents and realized that nearly a month to the date I began to document my “quest.” In that post I wrote, “And who knows by August 14, 2012 maybe I’ll be prego.”

So here I am. 6 weeks pregnant. Exhausted. Craving broccoli cheese soup. Feeling like I’m literally busting out of my pants. And so incredibly thrilled, petrified, nervous.