My sweet baby boys recently turned two years old, and whether I like it or not our baby days are officially behind us. Talking up a storm, learning letters and numbers (thank you Sesame Street,) and newfound sensations of independence, we have officially entered a new era of toddlerhood and I couldn’t be more excited. Besides the fact that I can tell someone their age by years rather than months (huge pet peeve,) these little guys’ antics and emerging personalities make me laugh harder than I ever have before, and to my luck they get a real kick out of getting a good laugh out of me.
With a twin birthday right after Christmas, you can only imagine the state our house has been in the past month. Once the holiday clutter was sorted and packed away, I decided it was high time to do a full cleanse of the baby paraphanalia. I probably should have let go of a lot of these things sooner, but the truth is you get quite attached to certain things that were basically survival tools in the early baby days. When I gave my twin nursing pillow away to an expecting mother last year (months after I was finished nursing) it was still so hard for me to let go of it! But now that we’re past ever possibly needing or using these things again, it’s time to let go and pass along these items to new families, and make room for the likes of the scooters, lacrosse sticks, and basketball hoops that have found their way into our house. While I’m very excited about this new age, this milestone has also been quite bittersweet for me as I look back on my pregnancy and the first two years with my boys.
One thing that you learn very quickly with young children is that they rapidly change and grow from one developmental stage to the next. For parents, this entails recognizing the new changes and readjusting sleep, eating, and activity schedules on a regular basis. It usually took me about a month to get readjusted and everyone set on a new schedule, and then a month or two later we were back at square one.
During the first two years of baby you amass so much new information and knowledge but by the time your child reaches two you’ll find that the retention for a lot of details from the early days isn’t as strong as you might think. Anywhere past twelve months I could probably tell you off the top of my head exactly what I did with the boys on a daily basis, but on the occasion someone has asked me for advice particularly with newborns I’ve had to go back and sift through baby log records to get a somewhat accurate account of our daily schedules.
Before the terrible two’s kick in and I get too far removed from the baby stage, I’ve decided to share my top baby essentials. One thing I remember for certain is that it is quite overwhelming preparing for baby, particularly when it’s your first. It’s tough sorting through what you actually will need and what you should register for all while trying to not let you house turn into a mini Babies R’ Us. We decided to go the minimalist route. Gathering information from friends and family, our pediatrician, and some useful baby books, we accumulated the bare necessities and decided that if we needed more we’d get it as we go. Because that’s what an Amazon Prime membership is for.
Beyond the basics of what you need simply to bring baby home (i.e… car seat, crib, diapers) these items were absolute essentials for me with newborn twins. Yes all babies are different, which is where I think the buy as you go approach is best for anything beyond essentials. But if you’re expecting and in the midst of determining what you actually need, these are all extremely useful items that are also great to include in your baby registry.
- Nursing pillow– If you have twins this is pretty much a requirement because you can’t hold two babies that long throughout the day unless you are the Hulk. If you have a single baby, I still recommend a nursing pillow because you spend so much time nursing and it’s nice to have your hands free to read a book, check your Instagram feed, or keep an eye on your nursing timer.
- Swaddling wraps– If you have a real wiggler on your hands, you’ll get tired of wrapping and re-wrapping over again. I did use regular blankets to swaddle as well, but these wraps were great for getting a tight swaddle when you’re half asleep. These are particularly good to have on hand for when others come to help out that aren’t at their swaddling A game. The Mister was particularly fond of these wraps.
- Playsuits– Plan on mostly dressing your baby in one-piece pajamas, typically known as playsuits in the baby attire world. Newborns spend so much time sleeping, that it’s pointless to dress them in separates for an hour or two that you’ll have to change them out of because they can’t sleep in. Snaps aren’t impossible, but I definitely suggest getting zipper closures over snaps.
- MAM pacifiers– One of my boys didn’t like pacifiers at first, but my cousin suggested this kind and both of my boys loved them. It’s easy for them to keep in their mouths, and if you get the glow in the dark ones you can find discarded binkies in a pinch during the night.
- Vibrating chair– Great for when baby won’t sleep in the crib during nap time (this happens a lot,) or you just need a place to put baby so you can shower, eat, or take a nap yourself. We eventually did get a swing after a couple of months and it was useful, but we got a lot more use out of these chairs.
- Baby carrier– When you want to walk without having to lug the stroller around. With twins I used my baby carrier all the time, either to hold both at once with one in the carrier and one in my arms, to go to the grocery store (store carts only have one carseat holder,) or if I just needed to be hands free around the house.
- White noise machine– An absolute game changer. My boys have always slept in the same room and been fantastic sleepers, and I think this machine played a large roll in that. We still use it now, and it’s really helpful when you live in an apartment and don’t want to have to tiptoe around while baby is sleeping.
- Bumbo chairs– I got two of these from a second hand shop, which after using them I recommend doing as well. Baby only uses Bumbo chair for about three months, but it is a great tool for helping baby to learn to sit up, and gives them a break from having their head resting on a flat surface.
- Infant bathtub– I never washed my babies in the sink because I have a weird paranoia about the disposal underneath. This tub comes with a mesh net for newborns to lay in, and an indented back rest for when they’re large enough to sit in the tub without laying in the next. It’s easy to use, clean, and is comfortable for baby.
- Tommy Tippee rubber bibs– Rubber with a lip at the bottom to catch all the remnants that didn’t make it into baby’s mouth. These bibs are really great for keeping (most) stains off clothes and they’re very easy to clean. I continued to use them up until about 18 months.
- Infant Tylenol– Most pediatricians don’t advise any over the counter medicine except tylenol. Especially once the little one starts teething, you must ALWAYS have infant tylenol on hand.
- Butt Paste– I wish I was joking about the name of this product, but I’m not. My boys didn’t get a diaper rash until they were one year old, but when it happened it was absolutely horrible. My pediatrician told me to use butt paste, and sure enough the rashes on both bottoms cleared right up. I have tried other creams since, and nothing works quite like the butt paste.
- Baby App– It’s so important to establish a consistent schedule for baby. It helps you to understand what baby needs, and helps new parents to plan out their own time to rest, eat, or go out for some fresh air. There are so many different app options to chose from, but I used Total Baby Pro. It tracks eating and sleeping times and durations, baths, and breast pumping. Yes the last one sounds odd, but it’s important to keep track of so you can be aware of if your supply is going up or down.
In addition to the goods and gear, good baby books are an absolute must for new and expecting parents. In case you missed it, check out my must reads for new parents. With lots of laughs, practical parenting tips, and valuable advice for surviving and thriving in the first two years with baby, all of these selections are great for mom and dad.
Other than obtaining an Amazon Prime membership, my best piece of advice for new parents is to embrace and enjoy this time, because you’ll never get it back. I remember when the boys were newborns people kept telling me that years later I wouldn’t even remember the first six months, and even then when I was severely sleep deprived, hanging by a thread, and had no idea what I was doing that thought made me really sad. Looking at their tiny faces, hands, and toes I was determined not to let those precious memories fade, and I haven’t. The feeding and sleep schedules have long since past, but never the memories. Enduring the first few years of a new child may be the most challenging thing you’ve ever experienced in your life, but it’s something you’ll never trade for the world.
If you’d like to read more of my motherhood musings, check out my previous post on my 5 Lessons Learned in Motherhood. If you have any specific questions or want more information, please leave a comment below or feel free to send me a direct note via e-mail to: onthedoubleblog@gmail.com.