Home Sweet Sarah

While I certainly subscribe to the Less Is More school of thought with regard to baby supplies, there are a few things I’ve found invaluable, so I thought I’d share them here. These are items that, at 11 weeks now (11 weeks? Or 10, who knows, let’s just say almost 3 months), LG and/or I are still using daily. Of course, because kids are fickle, fickle little creeps, she might end up hating ALL THESE THINGS tomorrow. Who knows.

(Also, there are a couple other lists like this floating around the Internet, but all with completely DIFFERENT items, so if you’re into looking at what baby things OTHER people are using, then click here for Temerity Jane’s list, click here for Amalah’s list, and click here for And You Know What Else’s list.)

Various Swings And Seats And Whatnot

I am lucky to have friends (like Elizabeth) and family (like my grandparents) and random behind-us neighbors (like our random behind-us neighbor) who fully stocked us with swings and vibrating chairs and rocking seats, thus giving us many different options for where to put LG.

Up until now, she’s mostly dug her blue electric chair, but has a new-found love for her swing (thanks, E!) I think because there’s a mirror facing down on her, so she can talk to and flirt with the cutie in the mirror (we haven’t broken the news to her that the cutie in the mirror is, in fact, HER.)

Straight napping

I’m lucky to have gotten all these items for free or on loan, but I bet they’re all readily available on Craig’s List, if you’re down with used items (the fluffy seat of the swing pops off easily, so we were able to wash it before using.) A lazy Google search tells me that this electric chair is about $50 and the swing is around $90 (both new, not used.)

This seat, the Fisher Price Newborn Rock & Play Sleeper, was a gift from our behind-us neighbor and is a LIFESAVER. We were lucky to receive it after two restless (literally, no one slept a wink) nights of trying to put LG in her crib.

It’s like a little cocoon, so LG feels all safe and secure (I assume; she hasn’t actually TOLD ME this) and it rocks to and fro (well, you have to rock it yourself, but it’s easy to do from the side of the bed; you can rock it with your foot while also trying to get some shut-eye yourself.) Plus, it’s angled, which is great for babies (like ours) who spit-up a lot or for refluxy babies, who sleep better while at an angle.

Well, you can’t SEE the angle-ness from this, uhh, angle, but trust me, it’s an angled seat

Bottle Warmer

I got this from my best friend Carrie, not really sure if we’d use it, but taking it because YOU NEVER KNOW. I am glad we did, too, because LG is very particular about her bottle. She’s like one of those freaking bears…It can’t be too cold, it can’t be too hot, it has to be juuuuust right. Well allow me to cater to your every need, sweet child o’ mine, for I have a BOTTLE WARMER.

Looks vaguely like a toilet, but keeps bottles nice and boob-temperature

Anyway, as I said, I didn’t pay for this, but a quick Google search tells me there are several different brands, ranging anywhere from $16-$32.

Gillian & O’Malley Nursing Tanks

Ladies, I have worn a bra twice since giving birth. I know I’ll eventually have to start wearing one once I go back to work (August 1st, waaaaaaaah!) but in the meantime, I’ve just been living in these Gillian & O’Malley nursing tanks from Target. They’re nice and long, which is good for a tall(er) person like myself and they’re reasonably priced ($16.99.) If you’re more of a big breasted-ed lady, these may not work for you, but for us flat-chested sisters, they’re perfect.

Here’s me modeling a purple nursing tank, while standing next to my sunflowers. It’s just your typical afternoon garden photo-shoot up in here!

Play-Mat

Those from the older generation see play-mats like this and always make some comment like, “The things these kids have these days!” Yeah, okay, we get it, insert walking-to-school-up-hill-both-ways-in-the-snow story here, but honestly? These play-mats are more for the parents than the babies (at least at the beginning.) Around two weeks old, I started putting LG on her play-mat, just so I’d have something to do other than stare at my sleeping baby. There are rattle-type things and noise-maker type things and the mat itself is washable.

All the bells and whistles

Practicing a little stomach-time, LG demonstrates the diversity of the play-mat

They’re a little pricey – the one I had registered for was around $60 from Babies R Us; the one we own was actually a gift from a friend of ours, but I imagine it was around the same price – but like the swing and the chairs, it’s another place to stick your kid. Plus, like I said, good for the parent’s sanity.

Aden + Anais Swaddle Blankets

Someone doesn’t care to be swaddled anymore, but we still use these blankets, which were a gift from my aunt, as LG’s “blanket” every night. Basically, we just sort of drape it over her and tuck her feet in, but DO NOT DARE cover her hands with it, lest she totally freak out. They’re lightweight and come in cool patterns that aren’t lame-baby, like most baby patterned things are.

Here’s a picture of one of the blankets that I hooked to her seat (using binder clips, just call me MacGruber!) as a sun-shade for when we go on our walks:

No babies were harmed in the taking of this photograph

There you have it, the handful of items I COULD live without if I HAD TO, but I don’t have to, and may I say thank goodness? Because if it weren’t for that swing, I wouldn’t have been able to write this blog post.

A couple weeks ago, my friend was in town visiting and we took LG out for cosmopolitans and lunch. LG was well-behaved, as she typically is when we go out in public, thanks in large part to the rigid schedule we keep her on prior to outings, so as to ensure optimum good baby behavior (eat, burp, change, and go! Quick! While she’s still sleeping!)

While we were at lunch, my friend asked what I’d do if LG wasn’t acting so well-behaved. Would I leave the restaurant?

Well. I don’t know.

There are a lot of factors I’d have to take into consideration: What kind of behavior is LG exhibiting? Is she just kind of fussy or is she CRYING crying? And, factors that don’t have to do with the baby: What day of the week is it? What time of day? Where are we eating? How many people are in the restaurant? How loud is it?

I wouldn’t let her sit there SCREAMING her fool head off, but I also wouldn’t flee at the first signs of fussiness. (Although I would internally freak out, if we’re being honest.) (And I suppose I have to admit my version of fussiness might be another person’s SCREAMING, so it’s unfortunately totally objective. Or subjective. I never know the difference.)

Her question did get me thinking, though, about peoples’ disdain for babies in public places, say, in restaurants or on airplanes. I know as someone who doesn’t like kids except my own, I have been known to do the whole, “Grrrrrreat, we’re being seated next to the people with the baby,” thing. Of course now that I have a baby myself, my attitude is a little different (I will sit here and enjoy this cocktail, dammit. My money’s green, too. Etc. Etc.) (I also realize, yes, I will have to reassess my stance on kids in restaurants once LG grows and things change.)

Airplanes are a different beast, though, as I don’t think anyone really wants to fly, EVER, and especially not with a baby. The name of the game in air travel is survival — surviving TSA, surviving boarding the plane with douchebags who mill around even though the plane isn’t boarding their section yet, surviving the middle seat, surviving the bathrooms, you get the idea.) I can only imagine doing all that with children is a special kind of hell.

Which is why, when I’m on a plane, I sit down and tune out, not really paying attention to whether or not there’s a baby (unless there’s an annoying kid kicking the back of my seat, in which case, STOP THAT RIGHT NOW.) I have always figured parents don’t WANT to be there, so why add to their stress with glares and side-eyes. (I hope that buys me some good flying-with-a-baby karma in the future.)

A good karma story: One time I was on a Southwest flight and I was in the aisle seat, sharing the row with a woman with a baby, who was in the window seat. The flight attendants told us multiple times that it was going to be a full flight, and yet this woman kept trying to dissuade people from sitting between us. (I get wanting to try for that extra seat, but it was made VERY clear there would be NO extra seats.)

A middle-aged business man came up to sit between us and the woman said, “Okay, but I may need to change a diaper…” to which he responded, laughing, “Oh, I have four kids — I’ve done the diaper thing!”

I really appreciated the guy’s attitude; this woman was clearly on the defense, even though she didn’t need to be, so I imagine it was nice to fly with baby-friendly people. (Although her line about the diaper was this side of ridiculous. Like you’re REALLY going to change a diaper in a cramped airplane seat, puh-leaze.)

Anyway, I guess with all this, I’m wondering what YOUR thoughts are on babies in public places. Whether you have kids or not, do tell! (This will help me gauge the level of hatred from other patrons when I bring LG to Napa next week.)

Well, I still have a baby and other than pooping and breastfeeding, which I refuse to discuss here (because no one cares about my boobs or my kid’s butt, you know?), there’s not a whole lot to write about.

She eats and she poops. And that’s it. Sometimes she cries like a damn fool and thus, I spend a lot of my afternoons on the back porch, chanting “Whooo sah, whooo sah.”

Really, though, she’s a pretty good baby. Even though we joke that she’s the worst baby in the world, she’s really not. Most days I like her, especially if she’s being exceptionally cute. If she’s not, well, there’s always tomorrow.

Now! What you came here for — some shots of her looking exceptionally cute…

Looking cute in her romper

Looking cute with her dad twin

Looking cute with her ruffle bottom

Looking cute with a smile

Looking cute flexing her baby biceps

Looking cute laying around

Looking cute doing my favorite thing that she does