Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Cook Family Baby Survival Guide

Liam turns two months old tomorrow.  I hope to get his two month post up, but odds are good it will be Monday after his doctor’s appt. so I can get his weight and measurements.  I thought it was about time to update with our favorite things—the things that have helped us survive these last two months. (Aside from our moms, without whom the first two weeks of Liam’s life would not be possible).

Swaddling Blankets (we have used receiving blankets but our not so bitty boy is too big for them…so I chopped up a bedsheet to replicate the larger muslin swaddling blankets that are sold for babies)  Liam really sleeps best when swaddled, so we wrap him up each night (though he does like to escape and scream until we come and swaddle him again)

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The bouncy seat.  The calming vibrations on this thing are this mama’s best friend.  Liam loves this thing, and he spends a whole lot of time in it each day….he takes most of his daytime naps on it.  I honestly don’t know if I would have made it through the weeks that Liam was gassy and had an upset stomach without this thing.

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My pump—my infection after Liam’s birth required a medicine that wasn’t safe for breastfeeding, so I had to pump and dump…and long emotionally painful story short…breastfeeding never worked out.  I still pump a few times a day so Liam gets at least one bottle of milk a day.    I’ll keep it up as long as I can which makes my pump a necessity.

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The tummy trio—Dr. Browns bottles, Enfamil Gentlease formula, and gas drops.  Since our postpartum problems put a kink in our feeding plans, we had to switch to formula.  Liam got really sick to his stomach with the first formula we used…we spent many nights walking up and down our 8 foot hallway with him over our shoulder trying to give him some relief.  Things have been much better since we made the switch.

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The Joovy Scooter—we love th is stroller so much.  It holds his car seat if we need it to, but it’s a great all-purpose stroller and the only one we’ll need until he’s out of strollers (with that said…I did buy Andy a jogging stroller for his birthday/Father’s day…he kept saying over and over how much he would love to take Liam with him on his runs…so I made it possible…just as soon as Liam’s old enough for the stroller…oops.)

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The meals provided by our parents and friends from church.  If not for them, we would have lived on fast food.  I honestly don’t remember a lot of the details from the first two weeks of Liam’s life…they are kind of a haze of iv bags, pumpings, feedings, and exhaustion.  Our moms took such good care of us…and when they went home and we got down to the real business of figuring out our new life once I was well again, we so appreciated the meals provided by church friends.

Netflix on demand….I have spent many a nap time and night time on the sofa with a baby who doesn’t want to sleep (but who is REDIC-ulously exhausted) and shows like Bones and Eureka…and the Kennedys miniseries (Lauren Onken…I feel like you would love this miniseries)…and old episodes of SNL have been the distraction I’ve needed in those moments.

And I leave you with one of my favorite SNL segments….the human suitcase at the end of this is often repeated in this house….as well as BOOOOOOOOF

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