All Of the At-Home Advice I Have To Give

Again, I will for-go the disclaimer about me not having a lot of advice to give...Because again, I'm sure you read it in the first part, since this is the third and final of a three part blog of all of the advice I have to give (as of now).  Pre-Baby, At-Hospital and At-Home (Post-Having-Baby).  

Here is all of the At-Home Advice I Have to Give

 

EVERYONE and their dog will tell you to sleep when the baby sleeps and I'm here to tell you it's not that easy. Especially if you're not much of a napper.  Just plan to be super sleep deprived for a couple of weeks to a month. It WILL get better. And it IS TOTALLY worth it.  I will say to make sure you do that at night though. If you can go to bed when he/she does, try that.  For me, it just wasn't that easy to do for naps during the day. It is also ok to take shifts and not sleep with your spouse.  Let the judgers judge away! It is also ok to not sleep with your baby IN YOUR ROOM. He/she will be fine in his/her room (of course just follow the AAP Guidelines for SIDS prevention).

Bath time WILL get better and actually fun for all.  It really does suck right away because they really hate it (well, most do anyway), but eventually it becomes fun and they look forward to hearing the words "Wanna go take a bath?"  And they get super excited about it. So, right away, just get the baby clean and lotioned up as quickly as possible.  There's plenty of time for fun in the bath a few months down the road.

See? Cute.  Just got his 1st
ATV this Christmas. We had to help
him try it out...didn't like the sound.
You can see my husband laughing.
We just think it's cute. We can't help it.

Make sure you laugh when the baby cries. Not easy to do when they are super little...especially with the first baby, right away. But I'm just saying find a way to enjoy that sound too, rather than it have you in tears also.  Chandler and I finally found a way to laugh at Gabriel when he cried. We just thought it was super funny and cute. I know, we are mean!  He's 1 year old now and we STILL think it's cute when he cries.  Especially when now that we sometimes get the I'm-sort-of-crying-but-really-faking-cry. 

Soak up all those tiny baby cuddles.  Once they are on the move, they don't want to sit still long enough to cuddle for long.

Take LOTS of pictures. It's ok, and a great idea to take lost of pictures.  They change so much when they are so little.  Here's the thing though:  You don't have to post ALL OF THEM ON FACEBOOK!  Just some to keep everyone updated.  If you're posting 5-10 per day, that is WAY TOO MANY.

Let the baby wear PJs.  If you're not going anywhere for the day, let him/her just be comfy and not have to go through changing into clothes and then back into PJs at bedtime.  There is no written rule that says you have to dress your baby in clothes every single day.  Naps will go better in comfy PJs, and he/she will still look adorable in those cute little footie PJs.  Besides, don't YOU still love a good all day PJ day?  (be honest.) I had tons of PJ days on maternity leave.

Let everyone do everything for you that they offer.  Especially right away.  Any help is so nice.  Even if it's just someone running an errand for you so you don't have to get a) diaper bag ready b) baby dressed c) yourself ready and dressed d) baby in carseat etc. to go do it yourself.

Start a bedtime routine ASAP.  I'm not kidding that I started one at 6 weeks old with our little guy. Maybe a bit early, but there is no denying that it paid off and he knew exactly when bedtime was after less than a week.  Ours just happened to be swaddling, then rocking him to his little music thing, laying him down (still awake) and then he'd usually fall asleep on his own (the music auto-shuts off).  Of course that routine has changed over time with him, but the music penguin has actually stayed part of it!

Download the BabyCenter app on your phone.  I relied on their pregnancy app when I was preggo to update me on the baby's progress while in my belly.  And much other info on what to expect.  The baby app was also a great tool to have after baby was born for all of those questions I thought of during middle-of-the-night feedings.  If you sign up, they will also email you helpful info every week specific to the age of your little one!