We have a 16, 13, 8, 7, 4, 3, and almost 2-year-old in our house.
I have learned a lot along the way.
I thought I’d share a couple things…things I wish I’d done from the start.
Tips 1-8 are things you need to have. If you have a baby shower coming up, put them on your list!
1. Black out shades and curtain rods
Your kid needs his naptime. And YOU need your kid’s naptime.
Once your child passes that 6-month mark, he or she will start waking up earlier, or having a harder time going to sleep when the room is lighter.
Blackout curtains are a lifesaver.
But they are expensive. So are curtain rods.
Let someone get them for you.
Speaking of naps, we live on a busy corner, very close to the middle school. Buses wake up a sleeping kid pretty easily.
The white noise machine makes a huge difference.
Maybe you live on a quiet street.
But you’d be surprised at how many times a douchey neighbor will decide to cut the grass or blow some leaves or whip out his chainsaw 10 minutes after you put your child down to sleep.
If you have one of these, your kid will stay asleep, and you won’t hate your neighbors either. Well, at least not for waking up your sleeping child.
3. Batteries
You are going to go through an unbelievable amount of batteries. They’re expensive! Register for all sizes. Lots of them. Especially D’s and AA’s. And a bunch of rechargeable ones. You’ll be glad you did.
4. Labels
If your kid is going to daycare, or preschool, or the babysitting room at your gym, or basically anywhere, you’ll need to label her stuff.
Get a bunch of preprinted labels (stick on and iron on) to put on bottles, sippy cups, clothes, shoes, toys… EVERYTHING!
You can always ask for a gift certificate to a site that makes these, and order them as soon as the baby is born and has a name!
No, this isn’t a fun or cute or creative gift. And it’s not what you picture when you envision yourself opening up a baby gift at your baby shower.
But when your baby wakes up at 3 am with a croupy cough and it scares the crap out of you, you are not going to give a shit about that Pottery Barn crib bumper.
6. Backpacks and duffle bags from L.L. Bean.
One of the first gifts I received for Number 3 was a monogrammed duffle bag for Number 3 from L.L. Bean. We’ve had it for 8 years now. In fact, now all the kids have their own. They all have their own color or print. They also have backpacks to match. They are so durable, and so versatile. We use them for everything. And the kids always know which one is theirs.
7. Gym or YMCA membership (that has a pool and babysitting services)
This one is three-fold.
First, you’re gonna need some time for yourself after the baby is a couple months old and you get a grip on being a parent. You may want it for your body. You’ll need it for your sanity.
But maybe you can’t afford it.
I don’t know that you can actually put this one on a baby shower registry, but you could let people close to you know that you’d like this. They could each spring for a month, or a part of a month, depending on the place.
A monthly family membership at our Y is around $90.
But it has a pool, and it has free babysitting, which brings me to the other two points.
You need to get your child comfortable in the water. Having a place to take him or her to swim is key. Take your child swimming as much as possible. You don’t need to pay for lessons when they are young. Just get them in the pool, as often as you can. Doing this will enable your child to learn how to swim much more quickly, and teaching your child to swim and be safe around the water is one of the biggest gifts you can give him or her.
The other thing is the free babysitting, and this is important for 2 reasons.
Let’s say you go to the gym 3 times a week for an hour each time. 3 hours. Around here, that would cost at least $30 a week if you needed to hire a babysitter.
$90 a month for a gym membership is worth it.
Even if you don’t want to workout.
You could just sit in the lobby and have a cup of coffee.
Alone.
You could read a book.
But you could also take a relaxing yoga class, and then after, take a shower.
Even a leisurely shower.
Or you could get your ass kicked in a spin class and relieve a little stress that way.
And then take a leisurely shower, alone, after that.
Totally worth it.
The other reason the babysitting is key? Your son or daughter needs to get used to someone other than you.
At first your child constantly needing you and only you may feel good.
But it grows old.
Quickly.
And you know what? That creates a lot of stress on you. Worrying that there is not one other soul out there who your child feels comfortable other than yourself puts an unbelievable amount of weight on your shoulders.
It’s not healthy for you.
And it’s not healthy for your kid.
And the older he or she gets, the longer it will take for the separation anxiety to subside.
Yes, he or she will probably cry the first day you give it a go.
Maybe even the first 2 or 3 days.
But, believe it or not, it doesn’t take long for him or her to adjust.
And then your kid actually looks forward to going there. There are a ton of toys he doesn’t have at home, and a bunch of other kids for him to play with.
Win-win, I say…
8. Don’t give up the naps.
All my kids have napped all the way up until they started kindergarten. At some point, usually around the 2 1/2 year mark, your son or daughter will go through some sort of nap disturbance.
Ride it out.
Stick with the routine.
Give it a good month.
Most of the time, your kid will come back around.
Like I said in point #1.
Your kid needs a nap.
And YOU need your kid’s nap.
9. Establish a OOR shelf in every room.
Yes. An Out of Reach shelf.
Around 18 months, your child will start climbing.
Everywhere.
And when you put stuff up just out of his or her reach, it only takes a month or so before you troublemaker figures out how to drag a chair over to reach the conditioner.
Or the lotion.
Or the toothpaste.
Or the powder.
So you take it out of the room and put it up somewhere higher.
And then you can’t remember where you put it.
This one could save you a lot of time.
And money.
10. Give your kid a chore.
You know, a 2-year-old can vacuum.
And “fold” laundry.
No, it’s not done to your standards, but it’s a start.
And what it does is teach your child at a young age that he or she is responsible for something.
It puts them in the mindset, before they can really argue.
No, they will probably never do most of the chores you ask them to do with a big, fat smile on their face, but the older they get, the more resistance and attitude they give.
Start ’em young.
It makes a big difference 😉
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Not sure if all Y’s do this, but at our Y, you can earn a free membership for your family by volunteering to babysit in the childcare room for as little as 3 hours a week. And your kid/s can be with you during your 3+ “volunteer” hours.; Might be worth checking to see if this is a national thing,our just our Y here in Central PA.
Yes to the curtains, white noise, and humidifier! Get the humidifier that takes the Vicks Vapo Pads- those are great when your kid has a cough! I love the YMCA but our child care sucks big time and is so overcrowded, like 30 kids and 2-3 adults during peak hours. They just let the kids fend for themselves and will come and get you after 5 minutes if your kid makes a fuss. Hoping it will be better when my son gets older. The pool is awesome tho and my son loves to swim!
I was so happy to see this wasn’t a “baby basics” posting. I also had to chuckle when I read #2, in a good way. I never even thought about a white-noise machine, but I’m not sure it would’ve helped anyway. We have a freight train that runs past our house about 100-150 yards from our front door, at all hours of the day and night. After my son was born, for the first month, I cringed every time the train would run through at 2am, holding my breath that he wouldn’t wake up. Now, 5 yrs later, nobody even pays attention to it when its damn horn blasts on its way thru. Instead, my neighbors are the culprits. Their driveway is right outside our bedroom windows. There have been so many times I felt like running out while they’re out there slamming doors, honking horns, yelling, etc during naptime or late at night after the kids are in bed and asking them to keep it down.. because, even though there’s a train the kids can sleep thru.. they ALWAYS wake up when its noisy in the driveway. Buy the white-noise machine, the batteries AND the curtains.. it will make tip# 8 SOOOO much easier!
This is a very good, clever list… I am about to have my second child (first one is just under 2yrs) and will have to rethink a lot of things now that i am going to juggle two kids plus a job. Definitely looking into the black out courtains for the day nap and the gym membership (with pool!!!) is a lifesaver already now.. I can only imagine how nice it will be to escape for some me time when there are two 🙂 (and yes, I know.. I will only have two.. You are my hero!! ;)) Thanks for a great blog!
I wish i saw this before i gave birth lol
http://www.laidbackmama.com
So perfect and so true! All of it! !! Die with#4 in late September, early October. 16,14,3 are the current ages of my kids. I wish I had seen this before my 3 yo bc I made mistakes even after having 2, bC the world had changed so much in that decade between lol!