You can read and follow her blog as well. http://karkarmoo19.blogspot.com/
She's pretty great!
Here we go:
1) I am actively trying to cook more meals at home. Not only do I feel like this is good prep for our expanding family, I have really begun to enjoy it. I look forward to dinner now instead of worrying what I am going to eat. Last night we had taco dip. It was delicious and I brought it for lunch. Another upside---healthier! Also, cheaper. I can appreciate all of these things!
2) I have decided that every time I get paid I am going to buy an essential baby item. I don't mean clothes or cutesy things, I mean diapers or wipes or burp rags, etc... That way I can feel like I am buying and preparing for baby, but it will be essentials. I could spend hours buying baby clothes...but I will feel better with necessities. Since I get paid every Friday now, I feel like I'm making great headway!
3)
Do you see what I mean? Clothes are the easy part!! :) I have acquired even more since this picture was taken...
4) I am currently trying to decide which baby items I am deeming essential. Obviously, the little things are easy, but it's things like cradles vs bassinets vs cribs that I am curious about. I am definitely open to suggestions here! Since this is baby number 1 for us, grand-baby number 1 for all grandparents involved and nephew number 1 for all siblings, no one in my family is terribly up to date with what baby needs or all the safety suggestions etc... that are more recent. I am doing my research, but it seems like everything has negative and positive sides to it. When did it all get so complicated??
5) Baby names...everyone wants to help! While I appreciate the help from my family (My Mom is just like me and has been on the look out for boy names!) it's the random strangers suggestions or comments on names that have me cringing. I have chosen not to reveal the names we like, or the name we will eventually settle on for our little guy. It's our baby, so I don't really want everyone and their dog's opinion on the name we choose! (Chris has a big mouth, so if you REALLY want to know, you can just ask him. He shares with everyone who will listen! Much to my disapproval! :) )
6) I have been adjusting well to this whole: "you're having a son" thing. I wanted a baby boy since before I was pregnant, but now that I know he's a boy it's weird to put it into personal context like that. I am having a son. I will be his mom. My husband and I will be his parents. It's hard to picture, hard to wrap my brain around. Last night my Dad said something and referred to me as Mom, which kind of startled all of us! It's hard for me to imagine being in the same role as my own mother. I just hope I can be as successful as she is! I have a great example in her.
7) Baby boy happily kicks away at my insides throughout the day. It never fails to bring a dorky grin to my face. I recently found out that one of my good friends is also expecting. She is not insured so she is waiting until she is 20 weeks for her first ultrasound. I feel extremely blessed to have had such good insurance available to me and that I have seen my baby 3 times already. I told her that there is nothing more reassuring than feeling baby move around inside of you. It's my daily confirmation that he is doing okay in there! She told me that her brother bought her a pocket Doppler so she can find and listen to baby's heart beat every day, and that's her confirmation when she needs it. I told her and will happily tell everyone, that there is nothing like feeling your baby move around. It really is a miraculous thing.
8) The weather continues to drop in temperature here. It's currently 27 degrees at 9:04 AM. I had to scrape my windows this morning and my heater is on in the office. I would just like to point out that this is monumental because I have been dying of heat lately! My body temperature is all out of whack thanks to pregnancy, but my feet are officially cold today. My husband always says, "The feet are the thermometer of the body." I'm feeling it today. I am cold.
9) All those aches and pains associated with pregnancy like sore hips and legs and tailbone---I naively thought I'd be exempt from them. I am currently sitting on a donut pillow to ease my aching bum! Sitting down at a desk all day is not conducive to a pregnant body, but I try to switch positions and get up every once in a while. Luckily, no swollen extremities yet. I can't wait for that....
10) Overall this has been an easy pregnancy. I know women everywhere are hating me for that. My mom had really hard pregnancies, so I was really expecting to endure the same. I feel really blessed that it wasn't the case. Granted, I am only 23 weeks along (24 tomorrow!! Holy cow....6 months already!) and there's still a lot of time for something to go wrong or come up. But so far this has been way more mellow than I anticipated. And I am super thankful for that. Regardless of the type of pregnancy you have, you get a baby at the end, so it's all worth it! I can't wait for baby boy to get here!
That ended up being a ridiculously long Tuesday Truths! Sorry if you're sick of baby. It's taking up a lot of my brain these days. Bear with me! Have a great and fabulous Tuesday!
The only truth I have is this post makes me happy!! You will be such an awesome mom. If you can't always think of an essential item to purchase you could just save what you would spend to put towards a big ticket item. Seems to me the most essential newborn items are a car seat, somewhere to sleep and a baby swing. And lots of diapers!!! What an exciting time for you and Chris.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shannon! I always appreciate input from other awesome mom's I know!
DeleteAfter having 4 kids I've discovered that there are very few essential items. The only true essential is a car seat. A stroller is nice to have but only if you plan on taking walks or going places.. if not then it can definitely wait. A baby carrier is great and something I plan to buy with every baby but I've never actually bought one and we've all survived. If you get a carrier though I would recommend an ergo baby. You need somewhere for the baby to sleep but that really depends on your space. A crib is great but takes up a lot of space so its really only logical if you have an actual nursery. I would recommend some kind of pack and play and/or those rock and play sleepers. They grow out of the sleeper in 3-6 months but its nice when they are little and you want them close. Swings are nice but have a pretty big footprint so they don't always make sense. I would consider one of those swing seats that can either swing or be a bouncy seat. They are small and some babies prefer a gentle vibration over swinging so you get the best of both. If you plan on breastfeeding I would wait to get a pump or anything like that until after the baby is born. I bought a pump with my first because I was going back to work and I barely used it. It was pretty much a waste of $250 that I could have used on something else. My biggest recommendation is to buy used or borrow anything that you can. Babies don't care and it really does help cut down on expenses. Good luck with everything and congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It's really helpful to hear what you needed and didn't need. Are you still in the area? Who do you use as a pediatrician? Would you recommend them?
DeleteNo problem. Seriously let me know if you have any questions about anything. I don't confess to know it all but I've had lots of babies in the past few years and I think I've been pretty good at doing it on a budget. I'm not in Rexburg anymore... I moved out near Boise. I am going to be there on Friday though to get a bunch of stuff from storage. Are you still at Servpro? Maybe I'll stop by and say hi. I took my kids to Dr. Watson at Rexburg Medical Center. He is a family practice doctor not a pediatrician but I loved him and would definitely recommend him. He was great with my kids and really easy to talk to. I've seen most of the doctors at RMC and really like all of them.
DeleteOh yes, I'm still here. Drop by and say hi if you can/want! I'll be here. I'll definitely let you know if I have other questions. I mostly have things figured out, which is great, but every once in a while I'll think of something that I don't have answers to.
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