The Parks Place: November 2011

Every month, I am going to write about people that I love:

I am writing this post about one of my best friends, Shannon. She is the strongest person I know. We have known each other about 8 years now and let me tell you, it has been a crazy 8 years! From the first time we met, staying out all night until like 5am, driving around with crazy hats on! She has been there for me through the good and bad. With me no matter what. We lived together for a little while and that was so much fun! We even got "inked" together. I love her family like they are my own. We stayed close even when I moved to Laredo and she was going through some tough times, I still was there whenver she needed someone to talk to. She is a single mom to 2 babies. Little Miss Syndi is a handful, she is 3 and precious baby Mikey just turned 1 in September. She works hard and every chance she gets she is with her kids. Mikey has Down Syndrome and that does not stop him! He is blessed in every way for such a loving family and support system. I am so thankful we can watch our kiddos grow up together!

Things that will always remind me of Shanny:
Backroads in Brenham. Goldschlauger. (eww!) South Day Street. Fat Pat. Pecan Lake. 6'8''. Thats mines. Dumpster diving. The river. Calling from across the hall. Butterfly ink. Rob and Big. Talking on the phone all night about nothing. Roadtrips to Laredo. I could go on and on forever. Love you Shanny!

2004 I think Me, Shanny and Philip at Pecan Lake

My 23rd birthday in College Station

In Laredo visiting Bryan 2006

At our house on South Day Street

Shannon meeting Logan for the first time May 2011

At the Buddy Walk for Mikey November 2011

Ok so before April 4, 2011, I did not know much about babies. I have one nephew, but I lived far away and did not see him very much, so I had not spent hardly any time around babies, so when my big day was getting closer, I was more and more nervous. But here are some things I learned along the way....

1. EXPECT not to know what to do. You are a new mommy and you have to roll with the punched and figure it out on your own.

2. Grandma's are not always right. I love my Mom, and she stayed with me for a week after Logan was born and I appreciate that, but sometimes I wanted to scream, he is MY child! Babies are supposed to cry and spit up, and everytime he did my mom would want to take his temperature or take him to the doctor! Needless to say, it was only a week. Your the Mom, do what you know is right.

3. It is OK if you cannot breastfeed. You are not a bad Mom! My plan was to breast feed and when Logan would not latch, they gave him formula anyways in the hospital. So have buy some formula before baby is born, if you don't use it, you can always donate it to a church or someone who needs it. The nurses and lactation consultants came in and worked with us every hour or so to get him to latch, but he was a little sleepy head and fell asleep everytime we would try. After we got home, I had a little meltdown and decided that breastfeeding was not for me. We switched to formula (which he was already getting in the hospital) and it was great! My husband and my Mom could help feed him and I could actually get more than 1 hour of sleep. By the time my milk came in it was days later and I was over it. Yes, I could have pumped, but I didn't and do not judge me. Logan is fine and healthy! I will try with my second child, but it just seemed to work better for us this first time.

4. Zip up jammies. I cannot stress this enough. Most of the newborn jammies we got were snaps and let me tell you, when you have a screaming infant at 2am, those snaps are a pain in the butt! AND when you have to change him every 2 hours, those snaps suck! (can you tell I hate snaps?) The zip up kind are the best OR the sleep sack kind, no snaps, at least at first. Not going to lie Logan is 7 months old and I still don't like the snap ones, he is a wiggle worm!

5. Mittens. We got some at my baby shower and I had not even thought to buy those. His little nails would grow like crazy and he always scratched himself pretty bad. So he wore his little mittens for about 4 weeks! And we would have to trim his nails about every other day.

6. Generic baby items. Ok so for the first child, we were like no, name brand everything. We would only buy Similac formula and Pampers. So after looking at our budget and comparing them to generic, at 4 months, we made the switch to generic diapers, wipes, formula and baby food. Let me tell you, I wish we would have done that in the beginning. We could have saved a lot of money, but we learned!

About $22, we would go through one can a week

$12, same size and same ingredients!

$7 we would normally change about 10 diapers a day!

$5 (yes I know its only saving $2, but it adds up!)

7. Gas drops. Well if you have a gassy baby. Jeez, we did! And those gas drops helped so much when his little tummy was upset.

8. Pedialyte (or the generic stuff). Logan spit up alot for the first few months and I was always worried he was not getting enough nutrients. And he loved the taste of pedialyte, so we would give it to him if he spit up more than normal and it is good to have on hand.

9. Find a great pediatrician that has a dial-a-nurse service. This was a life saver. I am a worrier and I called them all the time. Mostly for reassurance, but it was very helpful and made me sleep easier at night!

10. Tummy time play mat. Logan HATED tummy time, would have a fit when I put him on his blanket to do tummy time. I got a tummy time mat for $5 at a local resale shop that had lots of fun mirrors and a little pillow to help prop him up. So he would not have a meltdown (well it lasted about 5-7 minutes at a time). He still did not enjoy tummy time, until he learned how to roll!

11. Boppy pillow. This thing is awesome. It helps so much when they are so small to feed them and even when they are older you can lay them in it on the floor and when they are sitting up you can put it behind them for support.

12. Bumbo chair. Again, another awesome item. This really helps for their head and neck development. Up until a few nights ago, this is what we fed him in every night. I must say that if you have a chunky monkey baby, their legs might not fit in the leg holes! My friend gave us hers because her 1 month old would not fit in it, he was a big boy! Logan still fits in it and we use it when we go on trips. Not sure how much longer he will fit in it though, he is getting chunky!

Logan with his cousin and my adorable nephew, Hunter.

13. Bottle drying rack. I did not know HOW many bottles I would be washing, yes it is LOTS. So this item is really nice to have, sure you can put the bottles to dry on a towel or in the dish rack, but this thing it just neat!

14. Baby swing. Again, I must stress not all babies are the same, so this one is kind of hard because I know people that say their babies HATED their swings. But Logan loves his still! He takes naps in there and as we are fast approaching the weight limit (25 pounds and Logan is 17 pounds) it will make me sad when we have to put it away. It was the only thing that calmed him down and when he was sick he slept in it all night.

He was a few weeks old here.

7.5 months old!

15. Powder formula cups. These are the best! It helps when you are going out of town or just down the street to the grocery store. You can just pre-measure the formula and fill the bottles with water and take it with you. Logan was put into daycare at 6 weeks and they could not make his bottles so we use these everyday.

16. Name bands. These are really neat. You just go online here and you can customize your name label. We use these for daycare and when we go to church. They have really come in handy and are inexpensive.

17. Go with YOUR Mommy instinct. This is kind of like #1. From day 1 you might not know how to do it, but you just do (if that makes any sense!) Everything is new. Baby cries, spit-ups, gas, poop everywhere, getting peed on, you learn as you go. I could not do it without my husband, for you single moms out there all I can say is hats off to you, because it is hard enough I could not imagine doing it on my own. He is there to hold him, play with him or feed him when I need a break. I am blessed beyond measure. I thank God everyday for his wonderful and amazing grace. I am a different person now that I am a mother, everything is (and always will be!) about my child. I live for him and cherish EVERY moment, I love being a mommy!

11/17/2011

Thankful

11/15/2011

People I love-Shannon (Shanny)

11/07/2011

Late night photo shoot

11/04/2011

17 tips and items for New Mommies.