The First Six Months

This is mostly for my own enjoyment, but read if you'd like. (What a catchy first sentence, huh? This is bound to draw lots of readers...). He he. Well, I have been wanting to do this for a while and Ezra is asleep and Justin just left to play basketball so I finally have a few spare minutes (even though the house is still kind of a disaster). 

I wanted to record things that I am glad I had for the first six months of Ezra's life. Things that I would not want to go without (besides the obvious stuff like food, diapers, wipes, clothes, and car seat). Just because before I had my first baby, I didn't really know what I needed. Everybody is different, but maybe this will help some of you soon-(or not so soon) to-be-mothers. 

Now, where to start?

I guess first off I would have to say that the most indispensable item I used almost every day for the first six months is a Baby Bjorn. To be more specific, this exact one is the one I own. I love that it is organic, plus its super cute. I have seen other moms using ones just made of what looks like some kind of fabric wrap. Those would also suffice. This is an absolute necessity. Do not let the price scare you away. To me, it is incredibly important to carry your baby with you as much as is humanly possible until he can move around on his own, and this carrier makes that convenient and comfortable. It is hard to get things done while holding your baby in your arms, and it is also hard to get things done if your baby is just laying somewhere. Babies need action, and they see plenty of it safely snuggled against their mommies.

Up next, what I use every single day is a video monitor. This is also an investment. We got ours from woot.com (it was the deal of the day, so it was a good price). But it does full color video as well as sound. This is essential because Ezra sleeps in our bed and sometimes doesn't make any noise when he wakes up, and now that he can crawl, its important for his safety that I can actually see him at all times while he is napping or before I join him at night. Today he was napping and I had the monitor on but I had walked out of the room the screen was in. When I came back in to check the monitor it was black. I ran into the bedroom and sure enough, Ezra was sitting up, holding the camera he had unplugged, and sucking on it! Bottom line though, its just nice to be able to actually see that your precious baby is sleeping soundly. 

Third, and I think everyone will agree with me on this, is a Diaper Genie. This is a must-have for us because we live in a basement and can't exactly take each individual diaper to the big garage bin outside. Every diaper (including only pee diapers) stink. Especially after a few days. The diaper genie doesn't take up much space and keeps those smells out. I don't know what I would do without it.

Fourth, a bouncer chair (thanks, koster girls!). Let's face it: as much as I would love to hold Ezra (especially when he was smaller) every minute of every day, there are times when I need to set him down. This is where the bouncer chair came in handy. I say "came" because Ezra has outgrown it now and gets frustrated if I ever put him in it because he just wants to go, go, go. But I would use it every time I needed to shower or just do something really quick, and it is a good, safe place to set the babe.

I am also glad I had a boppy. When Ezra was brand new, I would put him in his pack-n-play (which isn't a bad purchase, either) but he would not sleep in it very well. I quickly found that the best place for him to sleep was on my chest. So I propped myself up with a few pillows behind me so I was slightly elevated, and put the boppy around my waist which helped support Ezra on my chest. That way, we both got a good night's rest. I am really glad I had that boppy for the first little while.

Last, I was very grateful for the breast pump I used! It was one of those machine, double pumper, whatever ones that was high-tech and very handy. (Thanks, Val!) I used it every day until my milk stopped coming in. But since I never mastered breast feeding, it was great that I was still able to feed Ezra my breast milk for a while. So if you are planning on breast feeding, it is a great tool to have, even if you primarily feed your baby naturally. 

Those are really the main things I am really glad I had. 

The rest of the stuff wasn't all that necessary:

I initially bought a crib (which my wise sister, Val counseled me against) and ended up selling it. Ezra sleeps better (or he used to... these last few weeks have been a struggle, probably because he's teething) next to us, and would always wake up if we tried to put him in the crib... that was enough for me to realize where he wanted to be. 

I got a swing, too, but I haven't put him in it very much. Like I said, I preferred carrying him around with me, but it was a good place to set him if I needed to for a minute. But he would get bored of that pretty quickly, and really, it just takes up a lot of space.

We got a bottle warmer which was sorta good to have while we had to heat up my breast milk, but after that it was useless and I put it in storage. Val gave us her old wipe warmer but it was too much of a hassle for me to use (I'm lazy). Plus we always change Ezra's diaper in a different spot.

I went out and bought a diaper bag which was stupid. Its not the best looking thing ever, was about $30, and we just use the one they gave us at the hospital. Its one of those that has the one strap that goes kind of like a sash, and its just black, and a nice little backpack. 

Also, I bought WAY TOO MANY bottles. He has been on formula for most of his life, but it is RIDICULOUS how many bottles we would have to wash. By hand. It was a dreaded daily chore, and I am really glad that we now only use 3. Really, 1 would be ideal. The more you have, the more you have to wash. Just sayin'. 

Last thoughts (I promise):

Required readings(best when read BEFORE the baby arrives):

The Continuum Concept

Good Nights

What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus' Guide to the First Three Trimesters (Hilarious. We bought it for Brad & Staci and I read some of it. It was really funny.) 

Just remember that everyone is different! What worked for us may not work for you. The best advice I can give though (which is difficult to do) is to only buy the basics at first. It will save you a lot of money. Don't blow a lot of money on an adorable crib set before you know if you will have your baby sleep in one. Same goes for a changing table. Some people use them but I never did. Maybe just buy a pack-in-play that comes with a changer on top and see if your baby likes the pack-in-play and if you like changing him on a changing table. Then maybe you would want to go pick out furniture. And you will get tons of clothes and such from other people. Wait until you really need something to buy it (which I know is really, really hard! I sure couldn't do it).

Hope this helps some of you. Congrats if you made it through the whole thing. What do you guys think? Comments? Questions? Let's chat. :)