Worth Every Penny!

Well, last time I said I was going to post the next day, but life intervened a bit. Most of Friday I had a splitting headache so I spent much of the day on the couch. The good news is that the headache was completely gone when I woke up this morning. Thank goodness! Hopefully, the rest of the day will be headache free as well.

But to make up for my miserable day yesterday, I felt the baby kick for the first time this morning! That's one of my favorite parts of pregnancy, getting to feel the baby move. I haven't felt anything else today, but I'm only 15 weeks so she's still pretty small. I don't expect to feel anything regularly for another couple of weeks.

Well, to continue my idea from Thursday-- what baby stuff did I get that turned out to be absolutely essential??

1. A baby swing: I received a really nice cradle swing as a shower gift when I was pregnant with M. I thought a swing would be nice, but I didn't know just how much I was going to need it. M slept in it until she was 8 or 9 months old. Almost every night, as well as nap times. And after that, when she was starting to get a little big, I tried to transition her to sleeping in the crib and it didn't go well at all!! My sleeping-through-the-night baby started waking up every 2 hours or so. (I learned from this though-- while my other kids still spent a significant amount of time sleeping in the swing, I've also made them sleep in the crib from a young age too just so they were somewhat used to it. They woke up more often, but eventually they all got the hang of sleeping through the night also.) But usually, my only way to get things done (or some much needed sleep) was to put the baby in the swing, turn it on, and leave the baby to snooze happily. The swing was such a necessary part of my arsenal that we wore out two of them. I'm going to have to get a new one for this baby.

2. A double stroller: OK, I didn't get one of these for M. But I decided early on with J that this was going to be absolutely necessary. After all, M was only 22 months old when J was born, and she really needed to be strapped down into something when we went places. At first I wore J in a baby carrier on my chest and pushed M in the stroller, but it didn't take long before my backache was unbearable. After looking at double strollers, we had two problems: 1) they were SO expensive and 2) they were massive. We only had a little Protege5 at the time, and I didn't have room for a massive stroller in the back. I lucked out and found a sturdy double umbrella stroller at Babies R Us. It turned out to be perfect!! M and J got A LOT of use out of it and the stroller gave out sometime when B was a baby. (At this point, M had to walk and J and B rode in the stroller.) Unable to live without this, I had to go get another double umbrella stroller. This second stroller has not survived all four kids either, and I think I am going to get another one this time around (assuming I can still find one).

3. A Microwave Bottle Sterilizer: I didn't have one of these on hand at the beginning because I was planning to breastfeed. The lactation consultant who worked with me at the beginning suggested that while I was pumping I should use the Avent bottles or another brand that had nipples that were closer to the breast so M would be able to make a smooth transition back to breastfeeding once there was something to feed her with. The store I went to only had the Avent ones, so I ended up with a starter pack of Avent bottles. Once it became clear I was going to be strictly a bottle feeder, I decided I needed more than four bottles. Especially in a tiny house with no dishwasher, having to wash and boil the bottles that often was a killer. When I went back to the store, I saw this microwave bottle sterilizer made for Avent bottles and I figured I would give it a whirl. Can we say major lifesaver???? Load the clean bottles in the tray, add water, strap the lid on, and pop it in the microwave for five minutes. It was so much easier!

4. Cloth diapers: No, I didn't actually use them on my babies' bottoms. Especially since with the first two babies laundry meant a trip to the laundromat, I wasn't even tempted to go the non-disposable route. But I was given a package or two of these by my mother and told that they would make excellent burp clothes. And did they ever!! I had been given a cute little set of pretty burp cloths as a baby gift, but they turned out to be not quite enough. M was a bottle guzzler-- she was downing 10 oz. of formula a feeding by the time she was 8 weeks old. But she also spit up a ton!! Every time you burped her, you were guaranteed to get so much spit up it was almost like she was puking. Those cute little burp clothes were not enough. The cloth diapers absorbed way better and covered much more territory, saving my clothes from getting drenched and stained. Most of the time. None of rest of my babies have been as bad as M, but those cloth diapers have still been worth their weight in gold. Fortunately, I didn't get rid of my sizable stash after K, so I still have them for the next go round.

5. A Non-Traditional Baby Bag: At the beginning I had one of the mile long, bulky diaper bags that you usually see moms lugging around. But I found that I loathed that bag right off. I did a little shopping and came across a small square bag that used all the space as efficiently as humanly possible. It was just big enough for me to fit 2 or 3 bottles, the formula, M's water, a couple of diapers and a small case of wipes. I loved it!! Much more like carrying a purse. It had a long strap I could wear across my body keeping it more out of my way when I was chasing a toddler too. Alas, my adorable little bag was too small once I had 2 children in diapers, but I still didn't want to go back to the massive baby bag. Instead I found a backpack style one. Perfect! Now I could have it on my back and still keep my arms free to juggle 2 kids under two. I've stuck with a backpack ever since. The first one wore out after B, and I couldn't find an actual baby bag in a backpack style that year, so I replaced it with a day trip hiking pack that has all the pockets I need. It has held up really well so I will be able to use it for the next baby. (I haven't exactly stopped, seeing as I still have a child in diapers. I have been dealing with diapers for nearly ten years straight now!)

So how does my list compare to yours? What other stuff did you find essential? Next post I'll put together a list of stuff that I wish I had gotten with the other kids (and am debating whether I should spring for them for the last baby.)