Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Rave: Baby Supplies Part 1

Now that I have been a mother for all of three months, I feel that I can pass on a bit of baby knowledge that I have acquired. The first piece of knowledge is that no two babies are alike and no two days with the same baby will be alike. Little Peachy is not a fan of regularity. One day she will only sleep in half hour chunks and the next she may decide to sleep for three hours. One week she will be sleeping through the night and the next she will decide that is overrated. As my one friend likes to tell me, "When you figure her out, right the book and you will become rich."

Babies come with lots and lots of stuff. (Well really, they don't come with anything, but any good parent will make up for that by buying lots and lots of stuff for their baby.) Just when you think that you have everything that you could possibly need you see something that you know that you cannot live without. A recent addition to our baby supply arsenal is The Miracle Blanket. (AKA The Baby Straight Jacket.) Little Peachy has uncontrollable hands that like to whack her in the face and take her pacifier away in the middle of the night. M and I tried every method of swaddling known to man, but our little girl is a regular old Houdini. She can get herself out of the tightest of wraps. That is until we purchased The Miracle Blanket. (Cue music and light from heaven.) Now most nights find her swaddled tightly in the cozy cocoon that is The Miracle Blanket. Once and a while she will get an arm or leg out, but lets chalk that up to operator error.

One would think that a baby would not tolerate being put into a straight jacket. But we have found quite the opposite to be true. Peachy almost seems to welcome being swaddled when she is tired. I just swaddle her up, give her her pacifier, and place her in her bed. Most days and nights she goes down without a fuss even if she is still awake. See how much she likes it?



So until she is able to keep those unruly hands out of her face, she will be snug as a bug in a Miracle Blanket when it is time to sleep.

5 comments:

Emily said...

I was talking to B about baby supplies the other day (b/c we're giong to be an aunt and uncle). Is there stuff you bought (big stuff) that you wish you hadn't? What do you use most? I have a theory that most of the baby stuff is for the parents, not really for the baby - like luxurious upholstered gliders. Thoughts on that?

Kristi said...

Emily,
Thankfully we did not have to go out and buy a ton of baby stuff. Most of it was given to us and much of that was used. I agree, that much of the "must have" baby items are really not all that necessary. I would really recommend that new parents look for used items or borrow instead of purchasing a bunch of new equipment. There have been a few things that we went out and bought after having Peachy that we decided we needed then. Most items you do not NEED right away. Wait and see what you use and what you might be missing. We have a good travel system that we use all the time. We also have a cheap umbrella stroller that is nice when you don't want the bulk of the system. Peachy really likes her bouncy seat. We even bring it along on trips so that when we are at other's homes she has some place to sit and doesn't have to be held all of the time. We use our Pack N Play here at home, but haven't taken it on the road yet as everywhere that we have taken her has had a place for her to sleep. We didn't purchase a big high chair. We have a small one that sits at the table for when she is ready to eat solids. Let me know if you have any other specific questions.

Taryn said...

Oh my- she is so cute! My husband even thought she looked kinda happy being all wrapped up.

Anonymous said...

What a cute burrito baby!

Emily said...

Thanks, that's helpful. I'm a ways away from needing anything myself, but talking to my SIL she's overwhelmed with how much people say she needs.