Story Time

When I was little I loved story time and it didn’t matter what time of day it was.  Reading is something that I have always found to be an important aspect of life in general and, in my humble opinion, its never too early to start.

Unfortunately, to my dismay we packed up all of my children’s books that me and my sister collected when we were younger and gave them away.  This also happened at a time when I was unsure of when children would be entering into my future, so the thought didn’t really cross my mind to keep them.  Now I really wish I had, we had books from Dr. Seuss, Robert Munsch and Mercier Mayor, just to name a few. 

I started reading to my daughter when she was about two (2) months old.  I found a couple of books with some nice big and bright pictures to start and it would keep her attention for a little bit.  Now two (2) months later, she will sit through the reading (well for the most part if she’s not having an off day), gaze at the pictures and try to grab at the book – yes she is trying to put it in her mouth but its all part of the learning experience right!?

My favourite time to read to her is when she’s starting to get a little fussy and wanting a nap or is ready for bed at night.  We’ll sit in the rocking chair and while I rock and read to h she’ll fuss a little bit until she find a comfortable position to sit in!  Once she finds that comfort zone she’ll sit there and start dozing off while “reading” and still trying to grab at the book.  The books that I prefer to put in front of her is those books with the hard covers and similar pages, she’ll grab at them, “turn” the page, and so on… no worries on her ripping the pages. 

Some of our favourites and some that I have found to add back to the collection from my childhood days:

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch has to be one of my all time favourites loved it as a child growing up and now brings me to tears when I read it to my daughter.  Its a touching story on the circle of life from a newborn and new mother to that newborn all grown up with his own newborn to care for.  oving and touching story and one that I hope my daughter will cherish and carry it forward to her children in the future!

 Dr. Seuss has written a lot of fun classics and a lot of them with a lot of meaning.  But most of all the books are full of fun and none sense words from a great make believe world.  Great way to get the kids into their imagination!

Oh, The Thinks You Can Think by Dr. Seuss  This is a great book with a great message! If you can think it up you can do it.  Its like my hubby once told me "Plan your work and work your plan" good strong words to think up whatever you can and if you want to make something happen with a little work it'll happen!

 ABC is a fun and great book to introduce a child to their ABC's its fun and great read for both parents and child!

I found this book not too long ago, its full of all of the stories/poems from the Mother Goose series most I remember but some I don't maybe they came about later after I got out of these poems.  This is just another Classic that seems to be carrying on through to the newer generations.

 

One book from my childhood that wasn't very popular but me and my sister did enjoy it and now my daughter seems to like it (the pictures seems to catch her attention), is Rabbit's New Rug by Judy Delton.  This book is nice because Rabbit gets a new rug but won't let anyone near it in fear of ruinning it, he comes to learn that his friendship is more important than from keeping the rug from getting soiled.  The rug can be cleaned and replaced but friends cannot.  Its a great lesson to children and full of nice colorful pictures for them to follow along.

These are just a few that I wanted to share with you and I will add more as they come up or as I collect some more!  I do hope to continue to add to her collection and I do feel reading is a very important asset to have and is also a nice enjoyable hobby for some “me-time” as I like to call it!  What are some of your favourite reads with your children? Do you try to share your favourite books from your childhood?  Happy reading!

Shopping Around

I am not one who is fond of shopping around, but if I am somewhere that sells baby stuff I will check out the prices.  It has come to pay off.
Price comparing in the beginning seemed pointless at the time and only because I did look around at a couple of places and saw only a few pennies to no more than a dollar difference.  I started thinking, is it really worth driving all that way to save a dollar, or a penny at that!  At first I thought of course its worth it a dollar here and there adds up… but when the price of gas is almost a dollar a litre I would spend more money just driving there to really in the long run save nothing.  Not really worth it in my opinion.
One day I happened to be at one of the stores and took notice of the price of formula… about a $5 difference, and than diapers again about a $5 difference! What happened I don’t know but I wasn’t going to argue.  So this driving out of the way business would now pay off a little more. 
I still check prices if I happen to be at another store because you never know the item could be a sale that week.  I take what I can get when its on sale because a little here and there will add up.  I still won’t go driving half way across the city to price compare but only if I happen to be there already.  Also, I found to regularly double check the prices else where you normally shop because slight adjustments in the prices we tend not to take much notice to. 
Than again sometimes shopping at the places with the higher mark up can be worth it too.  Some stores have a collectors points card so for every dollar you spend you get X number of points for.  Some of these places will let you redeem your points for money off of your purchases by reaching so many points or for gift cards.  These kinds of membership cards, I feel, are another great way to save money, but beware some point card you need to spend a lot to get a little.  One place I did happen to shop at a lot and have racked up a lot of points figured might as well redeem the points and get some free baby stuff.  I didn’t loose anything because I needed whatever it was at the time and the membership is free. 
Just a few things to look out for and keep an eye on.  How thrifty are you? what are some things that you do to save a little? Would love to hear what you do!

How Did Mom Do This?

I look back on the way things were for my mom, and now with a daughter of my own, I wonder how the heck did my mom do this?!
Having one baby is one thing but having multiples (two or more babies at one birth is a completely different thing and give these women a lot of credit for what they do).  For my mom, by the time I was about 18 months my sister was born.  So juggling one newborn and another who is not even two plus errands and housework.  How do mom’s in general do this!?
Well before I had my own I thought it was simple, ok I lied I knew motherhood was tough but really?! when you don’t have children of your own, well at least in my experience, you just don’t understand 100 percent.  Motherhood is definitely the hardest job I have ever had but hands down it is the most amazing, rewarding and fulfilling job I could’ve asked for and would never trade it for the world. 
I keep asking the question: how do they do it? Now with a little of experience behind me I can now say “I just do it”!  It's become a part of my life and go with the general flow of things.  Sure before I could just pick up and go with no organizing or planning needed and yes sometimes (it is VERY rare) I can do it that way.  But lets be realistic now, planning and organization is key… Where were these life skills back in college!
Planning and organization like I mentioned is one of the key ingredients to success with this job, for the most part (please keep in mind that this may just be me but hey I like to share).  Keeping on task, which I yet need to manage to perfect or at least get there.  I start one thing than get distracted by the baby and once all is said and done I forgot what I was doing prior and start something new.  My mom would tell me that she would start cleaning lets say the upstairs bathroom get distracted with one of us kids forget about the bathroom and after would go start something else.  Its not like she wanted multiple jobs started around the house and not finish them its only because not only does prego-brain affect most women during pregnancy but it carries through to motherhood – as I like to call it mommy-brain.  After all is said and done my mom would have buckets all around the house because she would forget about the other job she started.  I at first laughed about this until I caught myself doing something similar…
Well what I am trying to get at is that I have learned that there is no perfect way of doing things and parenthood is not a job that can be perfected.  My mom got through things because she had to and it was a job that had to get done by someone.  Children don’t come with instructions as all parents come to realize at some point or another and, of course, we all wish they did.  This is definitely a job that you can’t learn from a book but by personal experience and with what works best for you and your family. 
Now, I do what I can do when I can do it – my priority is my daughter and I do the best that I can do with how I know how to do it.  If it didn’t work I’ll try and sort out another solution (my mom always told me those problem solving skills from school would come in handy).
Still unsure if I have really answered my own question but within I feel I have.  All I know is is that I am thankful for my family and for doing the best that they could do with how they knew how to do it.  Its nice to have that new bond with my parents now that I am one.

Cradle Cap

I don’t even remember seeing the Cradle Cap appear but it did somewhere along the lines.  Cradle Cap is that yellow tinged flaky looking dandruff on a babies scalp.  I thought that it would go away with a bit of time and only because my baby had a little bit of dry, flaky skin when she was born; was told that the dry skin would go away with time. 
Her dry skin did clear up with no problems but than this Cradle Cap appeared.  One day I just decided to try to put some lotion in her hair and massage it a little bit into scalp before her bath time, figured I’ve got nothing to lose.  After her bath, I combed out her hair as usually and it looked to still be there.  The next day I took a peak around and about half of it, if not more, was gone! Her next bath I decided to use a little bit of olive oil; olive oil is really good for your skin and I have heard of some people actually use it as a skin moisturizer when really dry or cracked.  Again, I felt like I had nothing to lose.  Again, the next day it was cleared up. 
I’ve heard of using things like olive, vegetable, or canola oil before bath time.  I also read somewhere that if your babies cradle cap is really bad you can use an anti-dandruff shampoo but only a little and once in a while (not an every bath shampoo), do talk to your child’s paediatrician before using it.  I didn’t mainly because the lotion and olive oil worked really well and have no signs of return.
Whatever you decide to try, do not over wash your baby’s hair you don’t want to dry out their scalp and make the situation worse.  Because washing does dry out the scalp and hair it gave me the idea of massaging her scalp with a bit of lotion.  At first was kind of “scared” to try the oil, thought that it would make her hair to greasy.  This was not the case at all, just use a small amount, read a suggestion about using a cotton ball to dab it onto the scalp to avoid using excessive amounts.  Adding moisture to a dry situation was bound to help! Glad I tried it!
What method did you use? did it work? What other suggestions do you have for parents struggling with this nuisance of a problem? 

Winter Woes

I am so happy that winter is coming to end, even though it doesn’t look like it nor feel like! Living in Canada has its pros and cons – winter, for me anyway, is definitely a con. I have lived here basically my whole life and still have a hard time adapting to the cold and chilly nights of winter.  I have done a little bit of traveling to the tropics and lived in Belize for a little bit as well, amazing after all these years living in a cold climate like Canada I still have an easier time adjusting to the heat and humidity of the tropics. 
Well now that I have a baby of my own, I felt sorry for her; being born in November and introduced into this world at the start of winter.  Remember, I have a low tolerance for the cold so I can’t even imagine what it would be like for her…
A few things that I have found to like or love for the colder times for my baby.
A “bunting” bag for her car seat – We don’t usually travel around too much with her but when we do, we do like many other parents and bundle up our kids.  This bunting bag was great except that I found the bottom piece was too warm and found that she felt sweaty when we pulled her out.  We have stopped using the bottom half of the bag and she’s coming out dry.  So we cover her with several blankets and the top half of the bunting bag.  She’s still nice and toasty so we’re not worry about her being cold.



I do also have a snowsuit for her which I did get her in just to take her outside in the backyard to show her around and in her push-chair (stroller).  She looks so cute in it and its ideal with the closed in feet and hands because she can’t walk let alone stand on her own, so shoes aren’t necessary.  This snowsuit keeps her nice and warm for these kind of outings.  Although, if you have a bunting bag like mentioned above or the snowsuit I don’t feel its necessary to have both, one or the other would’ve sufficed.  I have both only because one was a hand-me down and the other was a gift.  But I love them both!

I don’t know about other babies but, of course, I sure do know mine.  She always finds a way to stick her hands out from the blankets whether she’s in bed or in her car seat or where ever for that matter.  Mitts don’t exactly fit her tiny hands right now.  We discovered that this worked great for us since her birth; using socks on her hands as mittens.  We had some of those preventative scratch mitts which I’m sure would’ve worked great except they never did stay on her hands.  Socks are great they stay put better than the scratch mitts and other baby mitts; also her hands are always nice and toasty when I remove them.

Bedtime in the winter for a baby can be a struggle with keeping warm.  Blankets on our little one rarely stay put, she wiggles and kicks and eventually will get rid of all the blankets on her.  I received this gro-bag as a hand me down and would love to look for one in a bigger size come next year.  It works great for my daughter.  Its sleeveless but for her it doesn’t matter because she seems to hate her arms being covered with blankets and what not.  We have her in a sleeper and her arms remain comfortable for the night; still seem to have a problem keeping her hands warm at night but it doesn’t seem to bother her (I’ve tried the sock trick as mentioned above and she finds a way to take them off).  The zipper on this specific one zips downwards so no worrying about zippers snagging her chin. Best of all, she wakes up so nice and toasty warm but not sweaty warm.  This is probably one of my favourite things that we have used in the winter time. 

What are you favourite things for your little one during these cold winter months? Did you have something that wasn’t useful at all?

Baby Toys or Learning Tool

Well, I finally caved and purchased my daughter a few “toys”, she about three and a half months and I didn’t think these kind of things would be necessary.

The first item I bought was a booster chair.  Its great now because she’s able to sit up supported and she can hold her head all on her own.  The booster chair is one that reclines and will grow with her as her needs change, so from bottle feeding to eating solid food.  The chair also came with some nice visual place mats, alphabet, numbers, all associated with food and also one with some animals.  She seems to stare at it and good for visual stimulation.  Also, now that she can hold her head up if we’re eating she can “sit” at the table with us and I have her in the chair for most of her feedings.  She loves it; up high with everyone else!

Do you remember those silly fuzzy dice that people used to buy, and apparently some still do, to hang in their rear view mirror of their car?  Well I found ones like that but for babies called "Dice Dice Baby".  Its got different textures, a plastic mirror, one dice has a rattle in it, and some bits for gnawing on.  My baby girl loves these, they keep her well entertained for the mean time.  As parents we all know that baby's don't have very long attention spans but for what its worth its pretty long for a baby (at least in my experience).

My most recent purchase was an exersaucer.  I didn’t think I would get one because a lot of them that I’ve seen have too many toys attached to it and seemed like it would be over-stimulating for her.  Yes, there are some that do have excess toys attached to it but I think you need to go with what you feel will be best for your child and what you think would be appropriate.  For me, I don’t like the idea of EXCESS toys but I do like it when children can self entertain, I feel its a great learning process.  Also, I’m a firm believer in “less is more”.  There are so many options out there for the exersaucers so do your research!  Some grow with your child, which I love but it comes with a big price tag.  Others hang, and some have LOTS of toys to keep your little one entertained.  All the ones that I looked at had removable toys or that you could change the location of that toy; I don’t think there are any that aren’t removable.  Some of things that hang from them.  But all will bounce, which will help with strengthening of your little ones legs which is great for when the time comes for walking (or running).  I went with something that was within my budget, so yes I shopped around for price via the Internet, and something that didn't have excess toys around it; I didn’t want too many toys because we have other things around the house for learning development (or in my baby’s mind playtime). 

I did wait to purchase this until I felt my daughter was ready for it, she was three and a half months when I purchased it but for her she probably could’ve been in one from about two months.  Every baby is different but from what friends have told me their child loved it! She’s had the exersaucer for about a week and she loves it.  She can sit in there for about 15 to 20 minutes at a time and after that she’s tired or over-stimulated.  All-in-all, I’m happy that we picked this up for her because she loves it and its a great learning tool. 

What have been some toys or learning tools that you bought for your little one? do they love it or hate it? There are definitely pros and cons to those bigger ticket items and its definitely a trail and error moment to see if they’ll love it or hate it.

Bedtime and Diapers

My latest struggle was with diapers over night.  My daughter, who is three and half months, is feeding so often and so much I wonder where she puts it.  Well to state the obvious and other than digestion and using the essential nutrients for her very so fast growing little self, it all as to come out eventually and, of course, babies aren’t potty trained to get through the nights without soiling themselves.  Ok enough of stating the obvious and to get back on track. 
My daughter takes in any where between six (6) to 8 ounces of “tea”, as we call it, otherwise known as formula in at each feeding.  Also, she sleeps through out the night for about 10 to 12 hours and sometimes I can get away with 14.  BUT, 10 to 12 hours on a single diaper is a lot urine, so every morning she’d wake up with her bed and clothes wet.  I was doing laundry every other day if not every day, which was down from once a week.  One that I did just to help slow down the laundry was I had these left over bed pads from the hospital, laid that on top of the fitted sheet in her crib with a swaddling blanket on top.  That was helping with changing the crib bedding every morning, but hated the idea of her sleeping in wet clothes.  Tried changing her diaper when I went to bed around midnight or so, but there was still at least another eight (8) hours to go.  If Sachiko doesn’t wake up in the middle of the night, than I don’t either; so again her clothes and the top blanket were wet.  I decided to try a bigger size diaper, so a stage three (3) size, in the same brand.  The bigger sized helped a little bit but she was still wet and so was the top swaddling blanket. 
I felt stuck with leaky diapers and having to set an alarm to wake up every three (3) to 4 hours.  Didn’t like the idea of setting an alarm for “morning calls” when my daughter was sleeping all through the night! I am so thankful that my wise and wonderful cousin suggested trying a different brand.  Well really, what did I have to lose, nothing really!  Out shopping I went and with a little surprise that the diapers were the same price so I wouldn’t have to worry about a cost difference if they worked.  Night one: full pat down of her back, clothes and bedding – SHE WAS DRY!!!  What a relief! I felt like I still had to keep my eye on it for a few days just in case she had a “lighter” night.  Night two: again full pat down and again SHE WAS DRY!! Night three and 4 were the same and I am happy to report that just changing the brand of the diaper made a huge difference.  I’ve completed a full week on the new brand and am VERY happy to report that she has been dry ever since. 
As for the remaining diapers, I will be using them up for the daytime only as I am around to change her often enough so she’s not wet.  I figured since I’m around all the time its more cost effective than ditching and getting all of the next brand.  Remember from some of my previous posts I’m frugal but only when its ethically ok. 
So a little advice from the mom with the daughter who had leaky diapers (really who hasn’t), if the diapers you have aren’t working for those long sleeps try another brand you really don’t have much to lose.  I’m certainly happy I did saved me time from doing laundry all the time and gave me that little extra time back with my girl.
What worked for you with your leaky diapers at night? What steps did you go through to find what worked?

Pros & Cons to Co-Sleeping

Co-sleeping was the one thing that I didn’t want to partake in with my newborn; well I wasn’t too keen on the idea.  I used to feel to each their own and I’m sure it could work for some people. 
Well after having a c-section and healing was up and down, Lloyd kept insisting that Sachiko sleep in the bed with us! YIKES! I was afraid I would roll on-top of her, squish her, bump her and so on, but night one went smooth.  I also forgot that I could barely move as it was because of the healing process from post-surgery. 
Lloyd also didn’t want our little one sleeping on her own as he felt her room was too cold for her, never mind the fact that he thought she was scared of sleeping alone.  Either way he had a few good points and let him leave her in the bed with us.  After a bit I loved having her there, the bed was nice and toasty on those cold mornings and was easier to tend to her when she woke up.  She used to immediately go into screaming fits when she was hungry and wouldn’t let up until her bottle or my breast were in her mouth for feeding time!
Ok so I admit it, co-sleeping is great and it was extra bonding time with our daughter but really the only one con that I could think up was where’s the daddy and mommy time????? So those odd occasions that we were able to get her into her crib we took advantage of them.  Movie in bed and lots of cuddling. 
Later, I did discover one other con… it was when I felt it was time to work on getting her in her own bed, and for all the time.  It took me a good three (3) weeks to even a month to get her sleeping thru the nights like she used to and so on.  I’m finally up to 12 hours of her getting a solid sleep, sorry to those who are still struggling with early morning feedings, but my daughter is sleeping like a toddler.  She was always a good sleeper from the start. She would wake up about every four (4) hours in the beginning, than every four to 6 hours by the time she was about four weeks old.  When she reached her 2 month mark she was already sleeping eight to 9 hours at a time and when she reached the three month mark her sleeping time jumped to 12 to 14 hours.  True bliss when you can get your infant to sleep all through the night. 
I wanted to start getting her into her own bed by around two (2) months, I figured the earlier the better it is for her in the long run.  I also happened to catch an episode of Dr. Phil, and I must say I’m not usually a fan of his show but this one I thought had some really good information regarding babies and toddlers.  Apparently, its recommended to start getting your little one in their own bed around four (4) to 6 months of age because it just gets that much harder afterwards.  One parent said her daughter was about a year old when she tried getting her into her own bed and every time she would put her to bed the child thought it was play time.  This was one struggle that I didn’t want to have to endure later down the road.  But with a little work and back to restless nights for about three (3) to 4 weeks wasn’t too bad and was worth it.  She’s sleeping very successfully on her own for 12 to 14 hours at night and this has allowed to start to catch up, assuming I don’t get caught up in my mommy-time!
The best way that I found to get your baby to stay in their own bed all night was to keep them in their room.  I would cradle her to sleep in her room and when she would wake up I changed her diaper and feed her a bottle in her room.  She would never leave her room at night, so if I had to make a bottle I would lay her back in her crib until I came back with it.  I think this also helped her to be more independent and more patient, she’s also gotten better with self-soothing herself.  I’m very proud of my accomplishment with her and I’m sure if she understood a bit more she would be too! What worked for you? or are you still working on the transition?

Some of my Favourite Things Pre-natal & Post-partum

So there’s a lot of gimmicks out there; things that will help with stretch marks, heartburn and so on.
I don’t feel like a lot of these products worked, well for me anyways. 
Stretch mark creams… really?! if you’re going to get them your going to get them there’s really no way to avoid it.  The best thing is to just eat well and maintain a good and healthy weight gain; this still won’t avoid the fact that a lot of woman get stretch marks.  But my favourite cream is still and always will be Palmer’s Cocoa Butter! Even though it says that it will help prevent them or help to get rid of them, I don’t think in reality it does.  I love Cocoa Butter, so don’t get me wrong, but for me its more soothing and just a great cream over all.  It helped to sooth the itchiness I got when I was pregnant due to the skin stretching and I just love the way it smells.  The nurses at the doctors office would always be asking where the hot chocolate was, and I had to burst their bubble and say it was probably just the cocoa butter I put on!
Speaking of cocoa butter, Palmers has this wonderful lotion for baby’s called Bottom Butter.  I love it and it seems to work really well for daily rash prevention for Sachiko’s soft baby bottom.  Another great product for baby’s bottom is Penaten Clear Preventative Cream, it’s a petroleum base product that helps to prevent diaper rash.  We love it and is great for every day use because it’s not as heavy and the medicated creams.  What are your favourites for your baby’s bottom??
Heartburn was one of my least favourite things about being pregnant, and I’m sure most, if not all, women can agree.  I asked the doctor what I can take and they recommended Tums, seriously they taste awful!  I read an article when I was nearing my third trimester and mentioned bananas can help with heartburn, also heard that milk or yogurt can help too.  So I, of course, had to try it out I mean I really had nothing to lose at that point.  The Tums worked but the relief didn’t last long on a bad day.  What a relief, they all worked and gave me great relief and even most cases gave me relief all day!  So I really benefitted from the milk products and banana; got in a serving of fruit and calcium with the wonderful relief from heartburn!
What were your favourite things pre-natal and post-partum?? What about your some of your favourite baby products??

My buying Guide

Everyone is going to have a different opinion on what you need and some people will base their buying more on wants.  For me, personally, I buy more for what I need at the time. 
There’s a few ways to approach this:

• Buy everything you need and want, make a baby registry
• Shop around, make a baby registry
• Buy only what you think you’ll need right away, shop around, make a baby registry and keep mind the things you will need later –the concept to this approach is buy as you need, will save you money in the long run and unnecessary things won’t pile up.

By the way, do you notice a pattern??? Make a baby registry.  Gifts are great ways to let people know of the things you need or want, and what you don’t get will usually add up in gift cards so you can purchase it later when you do need it.
The concept to buying as you need worked great for us.  We bought what was most necessary for her room and for her immediately that we could for see.  Crib, change table, diapers (don’t want to be running around doing errands when you first get home), car seat, stroller… you get the drift! Clothes, sure you need them but most infants are happiest in sleepers or diaper shirts also known as “onesies”.  The best thing we did for my daughter was to receive hand-me downs! People are always looking for ways to get rid of the baby clothes and most are brand new.  Probably about 3/4’s the hand me downs I got looked brand new, their baby probably only wore them a handful of times.  It is true what they say babies grow fast!
Now that Sachiko is three (3) months now, we are looking into the other things that she’ll be needing soon.  We did get a lot for gifts, one reason I am happy I waited the other reason is because she did not need them as a newborn.  Excersaucers are great but babies can’t really use them until they can hold their head up at least.  High chairs aren’t needed until your baby can hold themselves up with the support of the chair and until they are starting solids high chairs are useless up until that milestone.  So save your money on those items that aren’t needed immediately, it’s also helpful to find the best deals.
I love shopping, and what woman doesn’t.  I’m sure there are some out there who’ll say they hate it but reality there’s a small part of them that love it.  My thing with shopping is I don’t like the crowds, finding parking, waiting in line and shopping while pregnant is just another story.  I did a lot of my shopping online, whether it was for price comparing, seeing what’s available, finding my best options or for actually buying, it was great.  If there was something that I wanted to look at and see it before I bought it we did go out for a short shopping trip. All-in-all it definitely helped with the buying and shopping process.  Really allowed me to see what was out there without having to leave the comfort of home and than having to return with a sore back from all the walking/standing (into your third trimester shopping was not my best friend but I think it did help bring on labour when the time came!).
Do beware of some of the “fancy” gizmos that are available.  I use the term fancy because that’s all they may be, over-priced and quite possibly a junk collector.  Do look around for things that will help make your life easier for things like organizing, storage and so on.  Read customer reviews, but remember what didn’t work for someone could work for you and vice versa.  If you can shop around for the best deal, usually more than one store will carry that item and you may find the best deal online instead of in your local stores.
In my local community, Welcome Wagon had a “baby shower” for me it didn’t have that much to offer but there was companies there that I never heard of or products that are available that could make your life easier, again that I never heard of or even thought of.  Talk to your friends who have kids, be open to ideas and even ask if they have anything that they want to part with. 
I know I mentioned the baby registry and yes do make one! I had my baby shower after my daughter was born because it gave everyone an opportunity to meet her.  Put into consideration for your registry if you plan for a pre- or post-baby shower; plan and budget accordingly.
Will post a “what to buy” guide list that worked for me.  Happy Shopping!

my little angel

Ok I’m not just saying that my baby is my little angel only because she is but she is.  She is such a good baby, would only cry or wake up when she wanted something, usually her milk (or her tea as I would always refer to as, its warm like tea isn’t it?!).  The only time she seemed cranky was when we didn’t get that one “little” gas bubble out… but on those rare occasions she was an absolute angel.
I did have to chuckle at her when she cries because she would go into these sudden cries and if we didn’t answer her need within maybe 30 seconds she immediately went into stage two of her crying.  What I mean by her stage two crying is that it would go into high pitched screaming and yelling fits.  As an adult, we are that much more patient for things like our food so I couldn’t help but laugh… all I could really do was just try to sooth her until her bottle was ready (or I was ready when I was still breastfeeding) and tell ourselves that she’ll eventually learn to be more patient.  I think its so amazing how the human body and mind work, as infants hunger is like the end of the world but as we get older we have a better understanding of hunger pains.  Also, of course, babies are limited to breast milk or formula and I don’t know anyone who can drink milk and be full for long amounts of time so I do have to sympathize with her.  So, of course, the second her bottle was ready it was instant relief. 
We ended up going out for dinner when Sachiko was only about four (4) weeks old and she was great!  She woke up once for her bottle and back to sleep until we pulled her out of her car seat to get her into bed. 
As time went on she grew and started know more of what she wanted, her likes and dislikes.  Now I know that we have to limit our times out because she gets fussy, she is definitely a home-body!
Bed time; she was a really good sleeper from the start.  Would sleep anywhere from 3 – 5 hours when she was a newborn.  After about three (3) weeks she was sleeping about eight (8) hours but I think it was mainly because we were co-sleeping.  As she got older we were seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, of course once I started working with her to sleep in her own bed, her sleeping patterns changed again.  One big thing that I noticed is her sleeping patterns will change if she’s going through another growth spurt, her growth spurts also include a higher intake of her milk. 
I love watching her grow and go through all the different stages in her life.  We are so amazing as human beings, and I feel so blessed to be able to witness my baby first hand grow and reach the different milestones in her life!

The beginning of Motherhood!

I still couldn’t get over that I was now a mother, and not just a mother but a mother of a beautiful 6lb 11oz 20 inch baby girl! The overwhelming joy cannot be described until you have one of your own and meet her for the first time. 
I was so thankful that my hubby was able to have the time off of work to be with me while I adjusted to my new life and during the healing process of the caesarean.  I was so grateful to have such a wonderful man by side and a helpful one at that! He would tend to her for feedings, changing and every time she just woke up.  I was trying to breastfeed but found it difficult because of the incision but still tried to do what I could do.  I did find that pumping the milk was the best option for most times because Lloyd was helping out so much.  I did have a hand pump and because I was pumping so much wish I had an electric, but I did love my Medela hand pump overall, it got the job done!
Even though I had Lloyd around to help out for everything I was feeling like I was missing out on the beginnings of motherhood and that bonding time with my daughter.  I couldn’t stay up for long to change her, had a hard time sitting up to feed her… I felt deprived in a sense.  But as time went on everything got easier and I was able to move around more and was able to participate with the feedings, changing and the waking ups more. 
We did end up co-sleeping with our baby, yes they say that it is not recommended but it was what worked for our family in the beginning. More on getting her in her crib exclusively later.  Especially during my initial healing, I was able to wake up with her and help out more, made me feel useful. 
I’ve never undergone major surgery never mind an “emergency” one, so being “tied” down to bed rest was killing me! I wanted so badly to get up and move and feel human again, but it just slowed the healing process that much more.  I think that having major surgery and having a child do not mix well, mainly because there is so much to do with a newborn.  Where as pre-baby I would’ve been able to focus on me and would’ve healed that much faster… BUT we had a baby and I wanted nothing more but to focus on her. 
All this made me realize why so many women lose focus on themselves and forget that they need tending too.  I give my baby all that I can and do tend to lose focus sometimes, but when she is down and sleeping I try to give myself five (5) to 20 minutes for myself.  The small time for me includes catching up on reading (usually only at night), getting the baby’s scrapbook together, or even getting some of the backed up chores that need to get done.  Even Lloyd needed that little bit of time for himself; get in a little bit of his gaming on his PS3 but it was at least something.  The way I look at it, give your baby 110% but always set aside a little time for you.  My “mommy-time” is what has really helped me to stay centered.