The Big Lug

Though I’m sure baby products are a million dollar industry, I’m always surprised at how a newborn really needs surprisingly few things to get by. Here are a few things that I’ve found essential this time around:

Big receiving blankets. Some receiving blankets are too small to effectively use for a tight swaddle. The ones put out by Carter’s are 30″x40″ which is plenty wide for a tight wrap. Of course there are a lot of specialty swaddling blankets out there but I haven’t tried any of them. Also for babies born in the summer I’ve started to see these great muslin baby blankets. I think they’d make a great gift for a summer baby. I also think they’d be an easy craft project to make for a baby – if I try it, I’ll post a tutorial.

Our Baby Papasan chair. This has served us well with both boys who spent time sleeping in it. The angle seemed to soothe both of our little guys (perhaps it helped minimize any reflux). Of course, since we bought this 4 years ago there are new variations on the theme of an angled bouncer. This rock and play sleeper looks awesome and if I was going to buy another baby item, this would be it!

Lanisoh. The first few weeks of breast feeding were rough.

This formula container. So simple. It eliminates the need to buy more expensive single use packets and is reusable, cutting down on waste.

What were your go-to baby items?

Wyatt's tiny toes

Well this is old news in some ways but I had another baby! Wyatt Christopher was born via c-section on June 30 at a whopping 9lbs!

Ah the human body is an amazing thing. It makes us forget so many facts about newborns so that we keep procreating and populating the planet with little versions of ourselves. Here are some things I had forgotten about having a newborn.

• Breastfeeding sucks. Seriously. I know some people are very Mother Earth about the whole thing and it’s as natural to them as any other bodily function. For me not so much. I think it’s the best for my baby to get my breastmilk for as long as possible but the first few weeks of breastfeeding are a real trial. It’s amazing to me that so many women stick with it. We’re 6 weeks in and still going strong. Of course this far along, things have gotten easier so hopefully we’ll make it a few more months.
• You never see your spouse. I forgot about how little interaction you get to have with your spouse when you’re apart all day and then going to bed at 9pm so that you can get up for a 2am feeding. We’ll just have to keep up with each other via Facebook.
• Having a c-section hurts. I was going around telling everyone how easy my recovery was from my first c-section. Well I think I just blocked out how uncomfortable it was for the first few weeks. Luckily all is healing well.

All in all we’ve been very lucky with Wyatt. He’s an easy baby that likes to (so far) sleep through the day. Now that we’re over the hump with breast feeding this newborn thing feels much easier this time around. I’m already starting to forget what the first few weeks were like!

My desire to feed my family more organic and local foods is often in a battle with my lack of time and energy. Thankfully there is a huge industry dedicated to feeding off my mom guilt by developing thousands and thousands of organic convenience food products! As long as I can keep the job that pays the bills and causes me to be away from home  (thus the guilt in the first place – it’s the circle of life) then I can buy the few great organic products that I rely on daily.

Luckily these are carried at my regular grocery store so I do knot have to make a special trip to the whole foods.*

First off are these great nuggets by Ian’s. As much as I thought my kid would not end up eating nuggets all the time, I was wrong. And if you’ve seen or read any of the popular books or movies on our food industry you’re probably wary of the bigger brand name nuggets out there. Bonus to these is that they are delicious!

Two other staples on our pantry are Annie’s Organic Mac and Cheese and Health Valley cereal bars. Both of these are purchased weekly partially because they are our only organic options in our grocery store. However both happen to be tasty and though slightly more expensive than their non-organic versions, reasonably priced.

Sometimes I think this extra money and effort to buy these products may be a result of effective marketing on the part of the growing organic food industry and my subconscious desire to project a certain image as a parent. But even if that is the case o think it can only do more good than harm to participate in this growing movement towards eating organic.

*I love Whole Foods but I cannot go there without leaving with some kind of organic lip balm or a yoga mat or something.