15.9.08

Nesting

I think I have started ‘nesting’. All of a sudden I am more organised than I have ever been in my life!

Since our little one is due only 6 days before Russell’s birthday, I have started putting aside a little money every fortnight to get his presents. I don’t want his birthday to come along and not have anything for him. I want him to have a special day. He is a little worried that he will always be forgotten now that the baby is due so close to his b’day. Not that he minds, but I do want to make sure I always make the effort for him and make sure he has a special day.

We still haven’t organised the nursery. All we have is a pram and 12 re-useable cloth nappies. If this baby came now it would be sleeping in the pram and would have maybe 2 singlets to alternate between. I saw my brother on Saturday and he was saying they have started tidying up around the house and getting the nursery finished off. They are due in 4 weeks and thought if the little man came early they would be screwed. It got me thinking, we have so much to organise! I don’t know where to start!

I don’t know anything about babies and have no idea what we should at least have in the nursery!

What do I use to bathe the kid? Normal soap? Surely not!
What do I use to wipe it’s bum with? What brand is good?
Do I need to put cream on it’s bum after every nappy change?
Do I need to bathe it everyday?
Do they always have to have socks on their feet?
Should they be wearing a singlet under all their clothing, all the time?
Is there something I should be doing around feeding times?

There are so many more questions, but I just don’t know where to start!

Any mums out there have any advice? I have no clue as to what I’m getting into and need to at least know some basics!!

On a side note, we are having our baby shower this weekend! (pray for sunshine)

We decided that since we are both becoming parents that we should have a party for both of us. Usually baby showers are for chicks. You play silly games and then have some arvo tea. We decided that we wanted to be able to celebrate our little ones arrival and have close friends and family around for a bbq. We are going to a local park and having a bbq with cricket and footy set-up….and I believe a bocce playoff!

Hopefully it will be a pleasant afternoon and we will be able to catch-up with a lot of friends and family that we have trouble getting to spend time with all the time (if that makes sense). There are just too many people that we love and very little time in a week to spend time with each of those people. Hopefully having them all in the one spot we will get to catch-up with them all and just have relaxing time.

On another side note, I know this is the bane of Sarah’s life, but RSVP’s. Why does no-one do it anymore?? Russ and I are providing salads, drinks and nibblies, and it is so hard to know how much to buy because no-one ever RSVP’s anymore! We will just have to buy enough for everyone on the invite list, but we don’t have much money and it is a pain to have 100 cans of coke left over in your fridge!

Anyway…if you read this blog and I have given you an invite, please RSVP!!!! I want to know that at least someone is coming along! We don’t want to be 2 loners in a park with 200 cans of coke!

9 comments:

Sarah said...

Put on the invite that you will only provide enough food for those who RSVP. Then to any people who just rock up....stiff! A friend of mine did it a few years ago and he is big on RSVPs.

Anonymous said...

oooohhhh..... rsvp's. I was calling people TWO WEEKS before my WEDDING to see if they were coming becasue I needed a final head count for the caterer.

OK... *deep breath* I use the purple johnson & johnson nighttime bath liquid soap. Normal soap is too harsh for babies, but you can get special baby saop if you'd rather. You can use a wet flannel to wipe it's bum, but I am a staunch baby wipes user. I used to use J&J (the sented ones) but I'm loving the Huggies wipes with Shea Butter at the moment. LOVE the smell. ANd they are nice and thick. I tend not to put stuff on their bum every time, but I use disposables which draw the moisture away. If you are planning on using cloth, I would suggest that you at least use a powder. Lotion and powder together is good, but every now and then, give bubby some nappy free time so the skin can breathe. Because I use disposables, if I see a hint of rash, that's when I use powder, if the rash is pretty bad I will use both. Babies don't do much, so you don't have to bathe it every day unless you want to. Trust me, there will come a time when you can't remember when it last had one, or yourself for that matter. Then is a good time *grin* Seriously though, no one will tell if it get's bathed every day or once a week. With my newborns, they would get a bath about every three days maybe, but I would wipe their face, neck, underarms, hands and feet with a flannel every day, and their bum got cleaned pretty regularly. SOcks are only necessary when it's cold, or if you think their feet are a little cool. It could just be the circulatory system struggling to get into gear, so don't stress, seriously. The only time I put a singlet under my kids clothes is when it's COLD. I live in darwin for crying out loud. My kids are lucky if they even have a nappy on some days. *grin* Seriously, Eli lives in his nappy, and Amy runs around nekkid for the most part. It's coming up to Summer. If your kid manages to get a shirt on over his singlet I'd be impressed *smile* As for feeding times, it depends on what you mean by 'doing something'. During the day, just feed. At night, say, around 7 or whenever, have a little routine, so he/she can come to realise that this means 'wind down for a LONG sleep'. Give bub a warm bath, perhaps a massage, powder it up, put on snuggly jammies, then give it a good long feed, in a dimly lit room. Or the lounge. Whatever. Don't stress too much.

As for the essentials. Grab a packet of muslin wraps, and one of a thicker cotton. I kept my bubbies in jumpsuits during the day, so have at least 10 on hand. You can also put them on under clothes as well. For night time, my brand new babies were in nighties (makes changing at night easier) but jumpsuits are just as fine. Personal preference, really. Have a couple or seven outfits for going out of the house and to church. Have about the same amount of singlets as jumpsuits. Some days, you just don't have the energy to bother with press-studs.

Get a couple of dummies just in case. I remember reading about a woman who asked her doctor what he thought about dummies. He said, "As a doctor, I don't recomend them. As a father, I have one hanging on every doornob in the house." I found my kids prefered the plain, stock standard el-cheapo cherry dummies to the wizz-bang ortho special shaped ones. I LOVED them because they stayed in their mouths.

Get a bouncer chair. TRUST ME. the best thing you will ever buy. You can pop bubby in it while you have a bath, they are postable, and sometimes, you just want to be able to wash the dishes while baby is awake.

Hmmm.... baby nail clippers... flannels, a towel or two (nice soft ones)... a car seat. ON that note, apparently, research is stating that a 5 point harness is better than the 3 point harness we are used to. It's the normal 3 point one, but with one that clips across the chest as well. I'm thinking of seeing if there is an adaptor for Amy's car seat... she keeps pulling her arms out. Bedding... Adam and I brought all our kids a teddy just for them when we found out we were pregnant. They all still have them, except Eli... because the dog chewed it to bits. I cried.

Anyhow, see how you score on the weekend ;) You will probably get a bunch of clothes, and more lotions and potions than you will get around to using.

Gosh I can talk on.

Email me your addy... I might just have something for you ;)

Anonymous said...

postable. Heh. I meant PORTABLE

Dodgy Pete said...

:) Sorry Bekster. I'll be there and I think there are about 4 of the girls coming with me, so you wont be alone.

Sorry not to RSVP ;)

Bad dodgy Pete.

bek said...

Sarah: I don't know if I could do that...I'd feel too bad!!But it would teach some people a lesson I guess!

Jen: I have printed off your comment and am keeping it close at hand! I grew up in Far North Qld and spent most of my time 'nekkid' too! And all of us only wore nappies. Moving to WA was like moving to another country!! What the hell is a jumper/jacket for??
*sigh* it would be easier if we didn't have to deal with winter at all!

Pete: It's ok...you're not bad....only sometimes ;)
looking forward to catching up on sunday!

Middo said...

I RSVP'd about a week ago saying I will be there:)

Middo

Anonymous said...

Hey Bek,

Craig and I will be there. Think we had already said we would but just in case. See you on Thursday. God bless...

Love Mel xxx

bek said...

awww...now I feel bad.

Thanks Middo - I knew you had RSVP'd - do you need a place to stay while you're up here??

Thanks Mel!! I had 'assumed' you guys would be there ;)

I wasn't trying to have a go at everyone - was just making sure you all had ;)

Plus, I don't actually have a copy of the RSVP list, so I have no idea what I'm talking about :)

Sarah said...

Unfortunately I haven't had the guts to do it either. My friend who put that on his invites told me later it didn't work. He ended up with about 20 or 30 extra people rocking up and they ate the food he'd prepared for the RSVPing people so there wasn't enough. he was mega pissed off! Sounds like it is the bane of your life too but at least you've got some people coming which is good.