Well, Sam has now spent almost half of his life outside of my womb! If you ask me, he's doing a glorious job transitioning to this world. Walking seems to be in the near future, and babbling, self-feeding, clapping, crawling doggy style (with rear end up in the air), and giggling are parts of his current routine. With about 9 months of parenting experience, I'll say, I'm feeling pretty sage now. Here are my best tips I've discovered since that big life-changing day in April (and some may be helpful to you even if you aren't in parenthood):
- get a dog
God only knows how many hours Sam has spent laughing at this big fluffy slobbery creature. Seriously, Buttercup is the best toy that our boy could ever ask for. She is his total surround sound entertainment system, and on top of that, is supposed to help prevent the development of any future asthma, according to researchers.
- dust with your sheets
This might be my best trick and I'm wondering why nobody ever taught it to me! When you strip the sheets off your bed, use them to dust your bedroom furniture, also. They're handy and will be going straight in the washer anyway.
- pack your tea strainer
Now, I realize that here in the USA we typically bag our tea, but if you're so refined to own a tea strainer for loose tea, whip it out for making baby food on the go. Before our little mister had graduated to chunky food, I'd puree safer table foods by putting a small amount of the food in my tea strainer and grinding it through with a spoon. It's a brilliant idea, if I do admit, but to be honest, takes a little more effort than you'd think. Nevertheless, the tea strainer is cheap (something I already had on hand but probably purchased for $2), small enough to get lost in the diaper bag, easy to clean, and still useful beyond baby years.
- reuse baby's washcloth & towel
In the days when positioning our son horizontally meant mopping up a puddle of spit-up, I quickly learned to make all of the linens in our home get their maximum use before heading to the washing machine. So, after baby is fresh, clean and scented with Johnson's baby wash, use his washcloth to scrub your own face and then use it to scrub your sink area or clean your bathtub. After your babe is dried off, set his towel on top of the changing table. This can catch spit-up, squirts from his weeweegun, and the formidable bowel blows that somehow tend to miss the diaper target. Furthermore, you can dig out from your hamper the shirt and jeans that you wore yesterday to dry-mop spit-up (or worse) too.
- wear your baby
If I could only have kept one item that was given to me when we were showered, it would be the baby carrier. Particularly helpful when your refluxy baby needs to be kept upright and you still need to do other things besides wait on him to digest his food before he's wanting to eat again, this is the ultimate parent-child bonding and multitasking machine. We've actually got multiple baby carriers (embarrassing, I know)! Our babybjorn was a pass-me-down but worked perfectly for the newborn stage up to about 15 pounds (as well as for keeping me in the likes of celebrity baby wearers), and the ergo baby carrier is my new best friend -- SO comfortable and easy to use even now that Sam is getting so big! Thank you, thank you, thank you, my dear Aunties Suzy and Michelle for these incredibly useful gifts!
- open a college savings account & start funding it with your cable bill $
The digital signals from broadcasters' towers are much clearer than analog signals of the past, although living out in the boonies, we did have to shop around for a while before we found a strong enough digital antenna, and then had to also get a "booster" on our set up, but considering that beyond the initial cost of these items, we'll never again have to pay to watch Modern Family and still have access to local and global news, we don't miss cable at all! The amenities available to non-cable users are better than they have ever been before, especially if you have internet access in your home. One option we researched, the Roku, enables you to view Hulu content through your TV. I understand TiVo and other electronics manufacturers have introduced internet streaming tools also. We decided on the Apple TV, which we have enjoyed for streaming media from internet radio stations, YouTube, and podcasts (all free), as well as Netflix ($7.99/month) and the iTunes store. Our cable bill (for the most basic, analog package available) was a little more than $60 a month. I'm sure the bill would be going up over 22 years, but to keep things simple, we'll just multiply that $60 times 12 (=$720/yr) and then by 22yrs for a grand total of $15,840. That probably won't be enough for a college education from 2028-2033, but it at least makes a big dent. If you have a more typical cable bill of $100 a month, the sum is $26,400. Now that's some money!
- consider cloth
I know it sounds nutty, but we actually reuse Sam's dirty diapers by throwing them in the washing machine! Now, I don't want to become anyone's enemy on this front, because we certainly use disposable diapers too (mainly when traveling) and know their merits. However, if you are open-minded about what's on your baby's bum, don't let the tongues of those unenlightened people in conventional society convince you that you're not actually saving your money, the environment, or possibly even your baby's health by using cloth. Get the facts! Then, deposit your extra cash into your little one's college savings account.
- tune out their talk
That's pretty self-explanatory, but if you want more elaboration, here's my best example: the topic of getting Sam to sleep through the night is not something I care to talk about with anyone anymore. I'm sure that Ferber is fabulous for most families, but we gave it the old college try for two f***ing long miserable months and still have a baby who wakes multiple times through the night. But you know what, when we finally caved into our intuition and just allowed Sam to co-sleep with us all night long, we all slept immensely better and are happier during the day, too. You can judge all you want, fellow mamas and papas, but ultimately, we're the only ones who have to live with this situation, and as long as we're happy, I'm no longer listening to you! Onlookers and critics of my parenting style will have their opportunity to be the "perfect" parents with their own children.
- don't forget your old self
I'm not sure who I'd be without my jogging stroller. Actually, I take that back. I'd be a mentally deranged soul. Exercise has always provided my daily drumbeat, clarity, and even keel (actually, I'm sure it's God instead, but exercise is one of the main modes by which he reaches me). There are other things that make me ME too, and I'm working on making those exist in my new life as well. Perhaps for you, this "mode" or "thing" is doing the daily crossword puzzle, solving problems in your workplace, or volunteering somehow. I firmly believe in retaining these things that define us and fill us with contentedness. The demands of motherhood are far greater than I could have ever estimated, leaving little energy to be spent on one's self, even though it is more important now than ever to do so. Maybe my hair and makeup don't get fixed very often, but at least I make time for some things that are important to me.
What are the best tips and tricks you learned in your first 9 months of parenting? I'm always open to becoming a better mom (even though I may tune you out, haha)!
