ABC’s of Motherhood

A- Adjustment. Motherhood is one hell of an adjustment to say the least. You can be as prepared as one is able to be and you still aren’t prepared. Even if their were an instruction manual, there’d be a new edition everyday. You come home with your baby and BOOM there’s a whole entire extra person living in your house. A person who disrupts your beloved sleep, routine with friends, etc. It’s all a learning curve when you’ve got a tiny human who is 100% dependent on you. But it’s all worth it!

B- BabyBrezza. A MUST HAVE if you’re going to formula feed your baby. A life saver in a box. It’s a dispenser that holds water in a tank, formula on the top and mixes your bottles to a ready to feed temperature within seconds just by the push of a button.

C- Crying. There will be lots of crying, mostly from you. Talk about a whirlwind of hormones and emotions, ain’t nothing like it until after you’ve had a baby. Bearing a child turns you into a sap so maybe you’re just sitting there watching your child sleep, crying because they’re so beautiful. Bearing a child also confuses the heck out of your ability to think rationally so the simplest thing can set you off into a fit of frustration… which also leads to crying. It’s all natural. Right?

D- Dysfunction. I plan to give my daughter just enough dysfunction to make her funny.

E- Evenings out. It is so beyond important to have date nights with your hubby or wife. To reconnect and get back to why you even made a baby in the first place, it’s a beautiful thing and always more needed than realized.

F- Friends. Not saying you have to have oodles of friends but you need to get yourself at least one good mommy friend. It makes your journey so much more enjoyable I swear.

G- Gross. Your body does some gross things after birth. Embrace it.

H- Hair Loss. Postpartum hair loss is hella sexy. Enough said.

I- Isolation. Don’t isolate yourself. Don’t isolate your thoughts, fears, and even hopes. Speak your mind and ask for help if you need it. You’ll be glad you did.

J- Jammies. It’s perfectly fine if you and your kid(s) stay in their pajamas all day. It happens!

K- Keep it together. Keep a schedule, keep a budget, keep up with house cleaning. Stay organized! It’s key to so much success.

L- Love. Does this one really need explaining?

M- Mom shaming. JUST DON’T DO IT.

N- No. It’s going to be a word they’re going to need to hear. You’re the boss not them!

O- Opinions. Everyone is going to have them, even when you don’t ask. Just remember you are living your best life for you and your family and unless your child is a rude ass wild child or in danger, just let their comments go right over your head. Screw the know it alls.

P- Poop. So much poop. So many blowouts. It’d be so much easier if sometimes we could just hose them off. Am I right?

Q- Quietness. You don’t always have to be quiet. I assure you they can sleep through anything. Hell I vacuum under my daughter when she’s in her swing.

R- Relax. Don’t be so uptight. I know it’s hard especially right after having the baby because your emotions are so through the roof like I said before but take a deep breath and get some anxiety medication if you need to! It’s ok to balance yourself out and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.

S- Significant other. Be a supreme team. For yourselves, for your kids.

T- Trust. I know it may be hard but you need to trust other people with your kids. Whether it’s your mom, your best friend, your sister-in-law, you need time away from your baby. It’s good for them and it’s good for you.

U- Ups & downs. As it goes with anything there will be ups and there will be downs. There will be days where you feel like a supermom and there will probably be days when you feel like the worst mother on the planet. Don’t be too hard on yourself, you’re doing the best you can.

V- Videos. It’s so important to take all the photos that you can of your baby but don’t forget to take videos as well! For years to come you’ll want to physically remember their adorable little coo’s and their delicate little moves.

W- Watch your mouth. I’m honestly kind of afraid my baby’s first word might be fuck.

X- Xplanation. Ok obviously that’s supposed to read explanation. Cut me a break.. how many words in the everyday language actually begin with the letter “x”. Never feel the need to explain yourself. No explanation needed. See what I did there?

Y- Youth. Never forget, age doesn’t really matter. You’re only as young as you feel and my moms infamous saying as I grew up was “the kids get older but we don’t.”

Z- Zone in on yourself.  Face it you’re a mom now and your world revolves around your child / family and that’s amazing but don’t forget you need time for yourself as well. It’s the only thing to keep you sane.

What’s in my Easter Basket? Tips on goodies to put in your infants Easter Basket.

Oh goodness. I’m the rabbit. It’s a funny thing when you grow up and have your own children. You become Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and this time of year, the Easter Bunny. My baby girl is three months old, what on Earth can I put in her basket? Poor little nugget doesn’t even have teeth to enjoy a classic chocolate bunny! With some good thought, I managed to put together a fantastic treat for just under a mere $50!

• The Easter Basket & Easter Grass: Dollar store purchase, cha ching! This mommy loves a bargain. For $2 you can get the grass that fills space and a pretty colored plastic reusable basket that I plan to later use in my daughter’s shelf after Easter to store little socks or what have you.

• Carrot you glad I didn’t say banana?: I am very into cute little knick knacks and puns. Especially when they’re related to the holiday being celebrated! In my daughter’s case teething is right around the corner so I purchased Little Toader Carrot Teething toy. Can you say cute and practical? I can!

• The WubbaNub: First let me just brag about this product for a minute just in case you don’t realize how amazing it is. Or if you don’t even know what it is! The WubbaNub is a small stuffed animal that’s directly attached to a silicone round pacifier called a Soothie. The parts do not detach so there’s no choking hazard for your baby. Awesome 🙌🏼 The beauty of these WubbaNubs is they’re easy to spot if misplaced and the babies can pop them back into their own mouths using their hands or arm. My daughter was 3 days old when she started using it herself. GAME CHANGER! In the spirit of Easter I put a yellow duck WubbaNub in there because even though we already have one, two is better than one!

• Something with the child’s name: My daughter’s name is Maxly but we call her Max for short. I wanted to get something “different” for her basket that she’d be able to keep and use for years to come, and of course I wanted to keep it Easter related. The notorious Nick Jr. children’s show Max and Ruby popped into mind because of “Max” and the fact that they are bunnies. (Yay for being holiday related!) So I ordered the board book Max’s Breakfast on Amazon and confidently added that to her basket.

• Quacking around with tubby time: What child doesn’t love bath time? I know mine sure does! She’s not quite sitting up on her own and playing on the tub yet, but again that milestone is right around the corner. I got a family of Rubber Duckies, how could you go wrong? If you aren’t fond of this idea or your child already has these there’s another fine product you could get to replace them! I’m not sure of the brand but you can get a single rubber duck that tracks the temperature of the bath water to let you know if it’s too hot. In my opinion either option would be a great fit. If I didn’t already get one at my baby shower that probably would have been my go to.

• Spread the Love: Let me guess you love your child to the moon and back? What better way to share that message from the original bunnies themselves with the board book Guess How Much I love You. Enough said.

• When in doubt go with a classic: I was looking for a special “spring” related item to add to my daughters Easter basket. Since she’s a girl and assuming she’d love nature and dolls as much as her mommy I went with a Butterfly Cabbage Patch Kid. How could I go wrong? She’s just starting to play with toys and I know this is a toy she’ll be able to grow with! If you have a boy I may suggest a stuffed animal rabbit, Spiderman or even still a doll all in itself so it becomes their tiny human that they learn to have love and compassion for.

• When in doubt go with a cliche: Let’s face it your baby doesn’t have their handful of toys and dress up tools just yet! A simple yet cliche item to add to top of their Easter basket is a pair of bunny ears! They come in a variety of colors, including gender neutral tones! In my case I picked up.a pink pair at the Dollar Spot at my local Target. The ears will make for an adorable first Easter picture and a fun dress up item for years to come!

The Postpartum Package: Hacks for Moms with Hemorrhoids.

The female body is made to give birth, but damn does it still hurt. To most, it’s common knowledge that after vaginial delivery you’ll likely have tearing, swelling, heavy bleeding and stitches. To put the cherry on top, there’s just one more gift you’re blessed with after you just went through endless hours of labor. The notorious taboo topic. The hellish hemorrhoids. No one warns you that the constant pushing and pressure of labor would cause such a war zone in not only your front end but also in your rear. And better yet, how to deal with it once you’re home. So speaking from experience here are five tactics that when combined, will help cure your booty blues.

1. Maxi Pads! I bet you no one told you you’d be leaving the hospital in diapers too? Well maybe not diapers but pads are pretty darn close to it. Since you’ll have to wear them for your bleeding anyway, why not alter them so they can help alleviate the pain as well. On Pinterest I had read that if you unwrap the pads, put Witch Hazel and Aloe on them, then fold them back up and freeze them they were great for bruising and swelling on your vagina. NEWSFLASH, that was one heck of hack! Major pat on the back to whomever figured that one out. But what I figured out is that the padsicles actually soothed my hemorrhoids more than it did my..well you know.

2. Tucks Pads! Before becoming a Mom Tucks Medicated Pads were all I knew to remedy those painful itchy lumps that morphed on your rectum. The cooling sensation does ease the pain and itchiness some but when your Hemorrhoids are the size of quarters or bigger Tucks doesn’t do too much to cure all of your discomfort.

3. Nupercainal! Nupercainal Hemorrhoidal Ointment is a Godsend. And in my experience not a widely known product. In CT it’s never on the shelf in drugstores but it’s always in stock for the affordable price of $9.86 on Amazon! This ointment plus the use of Tucks Pads allows for the burning, itching relief that’s constantly throbbing down there to be somewhat tolerable!

4. The Boppy! For almost my entire pregnancy I had a Boppy pillow that was super soft, flat in the middle but was cushioned on both sides so I couldn’t roll over onto my back or stomach while I slept. Well that same pillow turned into my butt’s best friend once I came home from the hospital. Hemorrhoids make it so painful to sit. At least I had a pretty patterned pillow that I carried around with me for seven weeks versus a bright orange donut that you’d buy at a pharmacy. If you’re gonna be in pain you might as well do it in style. People are already looking at why you’re walking weird, don’t want to draw even more attention to yourself! The Boppy pillow that once helped me sleep heavenly helped me sit so heavenly too. I’m talking on the couch, in the car and even at the Tattoo Shop while getting ink done! Hey no shame in this mommy game.

5. Stool Softeners! Whether it’s Colace or a store brand, stool softeners are a must! Not only do they help with the constipation that labor causes but when you’re ready to make a bowel movement, it makes them nice and soft as not to distress your already tender area even more!

I hope these tips helped someone like they helped me! And if it doesn’t pertain to you then it makes a great care package for a new mommy or a mommy to be!