I admit, I didn't read ANY books about pregnancy, labor, delivery and bringing a newborn home. It's no secret, part of me was afraid that by reading and preparing for baby, I would jinx our luck--and the other part of me just figured that we'd do things our way and figure it out as we went.Which is, for the most part, working out for us pretty well so far.
We've juggled our bedtimes in order to attend to our wide-eyed from 10pm-12am baby, so that we both get a 4 hour stretch of uninterupted sleep, making both of us civil, and operational human beings come morning time. Once he gets his nights straight ( he finally went down at 9pm last night), we will stop taking sleep shifts and just do feeding/diaper shifts, with NZ taking the late evening and myself taking the early morning.
The sleep situation aside, there are some things I have learned in the past 2 weeks that I wish I had known before bringing Sal home...
1- Diapers&Diapering...How on earth can one little one go through so many in a day? Yesterday presented me with a few mystery soakers. As in, I finish putting on a dry diaper, pick him up, and his entire back and clothes are wet. It leaves me with a WTF?! expression as I strip his clothes off, give him a baby wipe bath, and start over again. Anyone with boys had this happen before?
2- Target Brand Baby Wipes...NEVER.AGAIN.WILL.I.PURCHASE.TARGET.WIPES. The re-useable container sucks. We have a huge stack of Huggies refill wipes that I have been filling the container with, and they rip off inside and are not "one handers" which OMG I only have two hands and one is holding his legs up, so it's be extra super if the wipes would tear off easily with my one free hand...Needless to say, my next trip to Target will find me buying a national brand container of wipes in hopes of ending my war with our current container.
3- Farts....I never knew babies could have adult sized farts. Ours does. Seriously..MAN SIZE. How's that much fart fit in such a little belly?
4- Over the Head clothing...EEK! I get nervous everytime I pull a onesie over my boy's head. Why can't they make the neck openings a bit bigger? I'm a huge fan of the zip up sleepers, snap up sleepers and kimono style shirts. Soon enough I'm sure I will be manhandling Sal into onesises, but at this point, as cute as they are on--they make me squirm trying to get his melon through the neckhole.
5- Fingernails...dagger like. Thank goodness for mittens and shirts/sleepers with the mitten cuffs.
6- Linens..I should have made more linens! I am kicking myself for thinking we only needed one changing pad cover. That number should have been more like TEN. My saving grace have been these changing table pads that my sister in law made. They lay over your changing pad cover, like a towel of sorts, so that they can easily be picked up and thrown in the laundry without having to remove the entire fitted cover. As soon as our dining room remodel is done, and our table is back ( that's my sewing area of choice), I will surely make some more fitted changing pad covers.
I'm sure there are a whole lot of other things that will come to mind as soon as I post this entry, but for now, these "wish I had knowns" are what I learned all about this week...Hopefully they will help some of my friends who will be welcoming little ones shortly.
Target wipes are HORRIBLE!! Their diapers aren't so bad though. I used Swaddlers for the first 7 months or so and then switched to Target for everything but bedtime, in which case I use Pampers Cruisers. They are wonderful. Pampers Baby Dry sucks!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you have a Costco where you live but I love the Kirkland brand wipes! They are definitely comparable to Pamper's wipes...
ReplyDeleteThere is no way to foresee all the little things that will pop up when you bring a baby home! And, kudos for you guys for already working out a sleep schedule where both of you are getting some sleep! We walked around like zombies for a couple of months, lol..
I echo Jen's comment on wipes. Kirkland brand are the best, they don't rip apart, they come out one at a time with a resealable pack. They are reasonably priced and quite simply the best out there. I've used them with all three kids. :) You'll figure out the rest as you go. I never read any books either. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you are nursing, try the lansinoh wipes. They are made for breastfed babies- boobie mill is a natural laxative and those blowout diapers can be brutal on a newborn tushie! In my experience, they were very gentle and they helped us not have to deal with diaper rash. Once my little ones got bigger, I started using pampers wipes when they were on sale or the Kirkland wipes. The best thing about the lansinoh and Kirkland is they come in their own little pack with a lid so you don't have to refill a tub all the time. One last (random) thing- when he gets to be about 6 months and won't sit still for diaper changes, give him an empty wipes package to play with. Babies love the crinkle sound and it will keep him distracted and not rolling for enough time so you can get the job done! :) Sounds like you are enjoying every minute with your sweet Sal!!! So happy for you!
ReplyDeletewe started with earth's best wipes and at 21 months haven't looked back. sounds like you're doing a great job and sal is one lucky little guy!
ReplyDeleteTHe diapering thing gets better and you decrease how many times you have to change them as they get bigger thank goodness or you could go broke on those things. I use the kirkland baby wipes (900 for ~$20) and refill a huggies box, I have used Pampers and don't really like how they come out of the box/tear etc although pampers diapers are great, but expensive. We used kirkland diapers. When I put onsies on Karsyn I would put them on the back of her head and then pull them away from her face as I put them on so they wouldn't smash her face and scrunched up the whole outfit like you put on nylons. I used to bite Karyn's nails while she was breastfeeding because they are so thin and almost glued to the skin underneath, John accidentially nipped her skin one time trimming them so I just started bitting them short. I made some terrycloth pads sandwiched with some rubber sheeting in the middle (about the size of washcloths to put under her each change so I wouldn't constantly have to change/wash the changing pad cover and only washed small pads when they got dirty. Worked well for us but I have also used washcloths and those potty pads they use for puppies if needed too.
ReplyDeleteThe fingernails are brutal! We are clipping Cameron's nails once a week currently.
ReplyDeleteThe mystery soakers - we put a clean diaper underneath before we even open the dirty one. I know it's different for little boys than it is for girls, but we had many a pee before we could get the clean diaper underneath (especially if we were changing a poopy), so we started doing that...has saved a many a onesie changing!
Onesies - I still sometimes dont like trying to squeeze C's head into it. I stretch it a little before I slip it on. It helps some and always goes back to shape.
Thanks for the heads up about the Target wipes...we haven't bought any yet! We seem to like Pampers wipes the best...there is one set of Huggies wipes we got that reeked an awful smell! Couldn't wait to finish that container!
Two words my friend....Costco (Kirkland Brand) wipes. Actually that was 4. haha. They are the best. I was way worried about chemicals/ and super smelly wipes as my boy tends to have sensitive skin and these have been great!!!
ReplyDeleteBrie,
ReplyDeleteI am giggeling reading your post! Lleyton was doing the same "wetting of his clothes" and during his 2nd day home I had a meltdown! I would pick him up and he would be wet, but his diaper dry. That sent me into a frenzy and I was convinced he was sweating profusely and had some awful condition. I was a loon! But, it was only him peeing out his diaper!!!! It happens...just point the wee, wee down, straight down. LOL
And yes, we go through changing pad covers too....and we now layer another layer on top too!
As for bed linens, get the miracle sheet! It goes on top of your pretty sheet and makes the bed much easier to change. I think its called a miracle sheet?
And those manly toots....yep, they can pass some hum dingers!