what i learned with my number one baby!

Where to start?

This is an emotional time! One second you will be crying with love over this amazing miracle you hold in your arms, admiring his/her fingers and toes and the next second you will be screaming in your head "where is grandma? because I will give you up for adoption!!!"  or was that just me? 

Things I wish I had done more of:

-Napping. Forget the house and mess. Sleep, you need it.

-Pumping. I did breastfeed, still am actually, but pumping helps keep your supply up and last longer… and you have plenty stored up for days when your baby starts biting, you are stuck in the car, or he just doesn't want to snuggle, or discovers flailing arms and udder cover combined is great fun. Give your baby as much breast milk as you can!!!! they need the nutrients and the comfort of being snuggled up to mom.

*Side note: Whatever you eat and drink goes to your baby too, if you are breastfeeding. Sugar, Caffeine, Alcohol, Medicine, etc. Eat and drink for your baby. 

-Skin on skin time: They encourage this for the 1-3 days you are in the hospital. But you start forget when you get home. KEEP DOING IT! Even if it's just moving your shirt out of the way and snuggling for a few minutes. Do it. Wish I had done it more.

Now onto sleeping!!!

For the first week my son slept in our room. He had his own little bed 2 feet from my side of the bed. One night, my son started crying that turned into screaming. I didn't hear him. Yes, you read that right 2 feet from my side of the bed. My hubby woke up (he sleeps thru almost everything) said my name twice, right next to me!, and then got up and picked up the baby. He touched my shoulder and I literally jumped awake, there might still be fingernail marks on the ceiling… He said "here, your son was screaming and I don't know for how long." ::insert WORST mother of the year award:: 

This only happened one other time, a couple weeks later. Back to my first statement. NAP!!!!

After the first week, we moved him into his room. We all instantly got more sleep. 

*Side note: Get the Angelcare bebe sounds monitor. Totally worth the money. 

I wasn't waking up at every little sound, and then sleeping thru the screaming (aside from the one other time… I was really tired those 2 times…) I still got up a lot with him, and maybe nodded off in the rocking chair, but I was sleeping better. Around 4 months he started up this thing where he would be asleep until I stuck him in bed. Bam! Awake! I did my best for about a month. It usually ended up with both of us falling asleep on the guest bed so my hubby could still sleep. Finally at 5 months we put our foot down and made him cry it out going to bed. You need someone or something to help you ignore your baby. I pinned a lot on pinterest those couple weeks. And finally it happened. 5 or 10 minutes of crying and then asleep to the world. Wonderful bliss!!!! 

I should have been more diligent with this because I did it some but I probably should have done it more. but I would make my baby sleep several different places for naps- pack and play, couch, floor, etc. in different amounts of light and dark, this helps them learn to sleep in different places and environments. He does sleep best in his crib. 

Also the white noise machine is great. Gets them used to noises. I turn it up during thunder storms and my son sleeps thru most storms now. With it on, you can run the vacuum, washer, dryer, lawn mower, whatever, and he'll sleep thru most. 

Singing, talking, reading- They love the sound of your voice. They recognize your voice and smile.  Be in their face as much as possible. 

I'm so bad about this… but put away your phone! Limit your use while they are awake. Try to focus on them more. Respond to the important stuff, but ignore the rest. 

Toys! Start teaching them to play with toys and entertain themselves with things they find, plastic bowls, spatulas…My son is currently mesmerized with elastic hair ties- coolest thing ever! Then you won't have to turn on Dora/Diego every waking second.

Security blanket. Or lovey. No matter what it's called, it's the thing that makes everything better. If my son is tired, happy, hurting, whatever, his blanket literally does make everything better. He snuggles up to it content in your arms. if it's a toy or stuffed animal get like 5 so you have a backup in case you lose it. In my case, I can knit/crochet up a new one.  

Pacifier. Do what works.

Schedule. True they need it. Do what works. (Times are different almost everyday for me, because I'm home with him. Basically he eats every 2-3 hours and sleeps every 2-3 hours… well longer now because he's older. That is the consistency tho… it's not 9.12.3.6.9. Whenever wakeup time is, 2-3 hours later is nap time. Whenever food time is 2-3 hours later, is another meal. it works for us.)

Pictures. Yes, capture it on your phone if that's all you got. But try to use a real camera as much as possible. You'll wish you had.

Your life does change dramatically. It will get easier and it will get better, because as you learn about each other, you will do what works for both of you and what works best for both of you.