5 Baby Things: Newborn

     Every parent has their list of must-haves and don't-needs.  These are my top five...and bottom five.  Argue with me all you want, but these are just what I have found to be useful beyond belief and pointless beyond belief.

Couldn't Live Without

1 Swing/Bouncer combo

     After spending several hours with Piggy in her stroller and Daddy walking around the house with it, we decided it was time to get a swing.  We got to the store, found two swings I we liked.  One was small and portable and the other was big but had a bouncer.  I We decided on the bigger one, the Graco DuetConnect Swing and Bouncer, because it (supposedly) had a plug in (which it didn't), there was a bouncer, and the bouncer was at least on the portable side.  Piggy Baby is absolutely in love with the bouncer part.  The swing...not so much...or so we thought.  The other day, I thought "Gee.  She's all the way over there in the dining room and we spend a lot of time all the way over here in the living room.  She must get really lonely over there."  So I brought the swing into the living room, made a spot for it (in front of one of the recliners), attached the bouncer, turned it on full blast, and...what do you know?  She fell asleep in the thing when before, we couldn't get her to sit in it for more than ten minutes!  When Piggy is on the fussy side, just plop her in the swing.  If she's still fussy, then take off the bouncer and bounce her.  If she's still fussy, time to either feed her or change her diaper.  In fact, last night, she had just eaten and had her diaper changed and was really fussy and wouldn't go to sleep.  I sat her in the swing and turned it on and she fell right asleep!

2 Breast Pump
     I breast feed.  Starting breast feeding killed my boobs...well, nipples.  It got to the point to where I would burst into tears from the pain.  Even using nipple butter, nipple cream, and breast milk (as a nurse told me), I still couldn't stand to feed Piggy Baby.  It got to the point where I was considering feeding her formula (and I did...but it was only 40mL by doctor's orders...so it doesn't count against EBF!)  I was about to die with sore nipples and engorged breasts.  Fortunately, my mother-in-law sent me a breast pump my sister-in-law never used and wasn't planning on using.  I saw that gorgeous thing in that box and it was like angels were singing and blinding lights were shining and all was happy and gorgeous again.  The pump was so much easier on me and allowed me to let my nipples heal up.  I just pumped, put the milk in a bottle, and fed it to Piggy.  Once my nipples healed up, I made sure to use that nipple butter just in case, pumped when my milk tanks were full, and all was good.

3 Travel System

     At first, Hubby was hesitant at getting a travel set "We wouldn't use the stroller.  We could just carry her around instead of pushing her.  I don't want to spend $150 for something we'll barely use!"  But for Black Friday, I noticed that this $150 travel system was on sale for $100, I forced him to take me to the store to get it.  I mean, 33% off?  I'm game!  The fact that there is a base to put in the car and not have to hassle with hooking the car seat in every time is a life saver by itself.  Adding that the car seat just clicks in and out of the stroller and car means that a sleeping pig can sleep!  Also adding that the stroller folds up with a press of a button and a twist of the wrist is just awesome!

4 Bath Flower

      This little handy-dandy bath flower kind of is as it sounds.  It's a flower...used during a bath.  This is an insert that goes into the sink for bath time.  It gives Piggy a nice, soft surface to sit/lay in while she gets her bath.  She loves it!  The only two problems I've found with it is that the way she sits in it causes the sink to not drain fast enough so one or two times during her bath, I have to lift her and the flower up just enough to let the water out.  The second one is that it takes at least a day to dry.  The tag says it can be thrown in the dryer, but considering that we have to pay to do laundry (curse you community laundry rooms!), I just hang it off the shower curtain rod to dry.

 

5 Moby Wrap
     I was really hesitant to get this because, while I'm not short, I'm tiny and quite a few reviews said "Not for petite/small/thin people" and "hard/difficult/time consuming to put on".  I decided to get it anyways because I was in desperation to get the house clean since it hadn't been cleaned since Piggy was born (more than a month) and it was driving me CRAZY!  I couldn't even cook dinner because she would want to be bounced in her bouncer or her swing wasn't going as fast as she wanted it to or she just wanted some lovin'.  Have you ever tried to cook spaghetti while holding a baby?  While the noodles are cooking, it's all cool, but once you have to drain them, that's where the problem comes into play.  While waiting for the thing in the mail, I looked up some videos and how-to's for this thing so once it got here, I could just tear the box up, throw it on, plop in baby, and get on with the cleaning.  The second I saw the package, I did just that.  She loved it, I couldn't figure out what these people meant on the reviews (I can throw it on within half a minute then add twenty seconds to put her in it and it wasn't swallowing me, dragging the ground or anything), and the house got cleaned and dinners got cooked.

Can Live Without

1 Crib
     Go ahead.  Call me crazy.  Go on.  I'll wait.  I just haven't really found this as a "must have" or even "maybe use" kind of thing.  Piggy doesn't like to sleep in it, she doesn't like to lay in it, she just doesn't like it.  The only way we've been able to get her to even accept it is to put her in the few seconds it takes to whip out a diaper for changing her.  While there is a changing table attached to the crib, we use the changing table...but not the crib.  At night, she sleeps in the bed with Hubby and me.  She can't sleep without me and I can't sleep well without her.  So this $150 crib (that we only paid $60 for) is just a big waste of space.  Eventually, though, I do plan on training her to sleep in the thing, but for now it's just...there.

2 Toys
     I got a few toys as a gift.  I even got some toys from people I've never even met or know (gift basket from Hubby's work from a church...if that makes sense.)  They all seem awesome, but right now, they're just a waste of space.  Piggy is just simply too young to play with them and the one that she can even remotely come close to playing with, she has no interest in.  Even the little rattlers that were given to us are for older babies and she just doesn't seem to want anything to do with them.  As of right now, her favorite "toys" are Daddy's fingers and Mommy's hair (which is why I got it cut and even then, keep it put up...but she still manages to grab ahold of the little sections that escape the clip.)  So until she gets older, it's Daddy's fingers and Mommy's hair.  I'm hoping she'll be more interested in toys by the end of April (she's getting some toys in her Easter basket.)

3 Washcloths
     Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I can already hear some of you right now "Washcloths?!  Live without them?!  What kind of drugs are you on?!"  Yes, washcloths.  I have yet to find a die hard use for them.  Even when she's getting a bath, I just simply use my hands to soap her up and a cup to rinse her off.  I will give them some possible credit for the future.  Maybe I'll use them when she's grabbing stuff (besides my hair) and needs some entertainment.  Just hand one to her to do what she will with it.  Maybe I'll have to wait until she's learning to bathe herself.  I don't know.  Until then, they're just thrown in her diaper bag in case she has a little spit up and a spit up/burp receiving blanket isn't around to save the day.

4 Pacifier Clips
     Let's just say, the only time she even wants to use a pacifier is when she can't be fed right now!  When that's the case, the majority of the time we are in the car going somewhere so it just falls into the car seat.  It's not like the car seat is the vast wasteland where there's no hope of finding anything that's lost in its abyss.  It's just not.  Otherwise, her favorite thing(s) she loves to suck on are her hands.  Why?  I don't know.  I sucked on my index and middle finger (started when I was first teething because I could wrap the two fingers over my gums and chew) while my brother sucked his thumb.  I'll give this one the possible future credit.  When she's walking around and feels the need to suck on something (like her hands) and whatever that something is, is dirty for whatever reason ("Ooo!  Look what I found in my diaper!") and wipes aren't readily handy.  Right now, there's just no point.

5 Swaddlers
     I've heard absolutely raving things about these swaddlers.  My mother-in-law and mom even got some for the little pig.  When I was first trying to get her to go to sleep in her crib, I tried to use these handy little things.  I would grab Piggy, lay her in one, wrap it up, then set her in the crib...only to have her cry her heart out trying to free her arms and legs from the entrapping fabric of doom.  I tried to tighten it (she cried) and I tried to loosen it (she cried) and then I didn't put it on her (she didn't cry).  She just loves for her hands and feet to be free (gee, I wonder why the hands).  I don't even see potential for these things.  Unfortunately, swaddlers will just have to deal with the feeling of rejection.  Sorry, guys.