First Two Weeks...must haves and must not haves

**I know that I started this blog in the midst of our miscarriage and issues conceiving, and I love how many women I've met on this journey. I understand if you are in a difficult spot and don't wish to follow along anymore as I will be posting on our baby journey quite a bit.  I hope that y'all stick around for the ride, but I understand if you can't.

Hi all! I have a tiny bit of time before my hungry little boy wakes up to feed (or I wake him up...usually the
case) so I thought I'd post about our must haves from the past two weeks.  I already posted about my breastfeeding must-haves in my hospital list post, so I won't be redundant here, at least not too much :)

MUST HAVES:

• Supportive family and/or husband. Today is my fist day to be completely alone with Daniel and he's almost two weeks old.  I've loved having my family here helping.
• Nursing pillow! I have one with a cool slide ring on that you can slide to tell you which side to feed on first at your next feeding.  Pretty helpful.
• Vibrating chair.  Ours was one of the most popular on Amazon and got good reviews.
• Swing.  Again, the typical best-rated Fisher Price swing. We love it and both this and the vibrating chair mean that I can have some hands-free time while Daniel sleeps.  Both of these put him to sleep which is great.
• Sound machine.  We have two, one that's pretty loud and plays continuously and one that's not so loud and plays only 40 minutes.  The Cloud B sleep giraffe Velcros to the side of the bassinet so I don't feel weird leaving it in there when he sleeps.  I put it way far away from him anyway.  
• Swaddle Me swaddlers. A-mazing. Best invention ever.  We knew we were going to swaddle and these velcro so that you don't have to figure out how to swaddle the baby every time.  The velcro gets pretty snug.  Daniel hasn't pulled his arms out but he has figured out how to cross his hands in front of him.  I also like these because they're not tight on his hips or legs.  Hip dysplasia can occur when swaddles are too tight and with the SwaddleMes, this isn't even an issue. 
• Happiest Baby on the Block book.  Love it.  We refer back to this all the time when Daniel is fussy
• Changing pad liners--a lot of them.  He likes to pee on these and this way, I only have to wash the liner, not the whole changing pad.
• If you're breastfeeding, vitamin D drops.  Our pediatrician recommended these as a supplement.
• Covers for carseat straps, such as these.
• We have a snap and go stroller which is really nice. The car seat just snaps in and off we go! Plus the stroller weighs like 4 pounds! He can only use it while he's in the carseat (so maybe up to four months) but for now, it's great.  We have another stroller for when he's bigger.
• Burp cloths.
• Zip up footed long sleeve onesies.  Zips or snaps work well, but you don't want to be pulling anything over baby's head at 3 am when you have to change him twice during a feeding. We use these for pajamas and use pants and long sleeve onesies during the day.
• SOCKS. The best we've found are called trumpette   These stay on better than others that we have.  
• Nosefrida snot snucker. Awesome invention, though you may think it's gross at first. Daniel has been stuffy since he was born. 
• Wrap or sling. I like wearing Daniel so I can get housework and schoolwork done.  I'm still figuring out my Moby and I have a Zolowear ring sling to try as well.  
• Baby bathtub with infant sling. Similar here 

MUST NOT HAVES

• Daniel was 8 pounds so we did NOT need a ton of newborn clothes OR newborn diapers.  Be careful stocking up on these things.  I washed everything and now I can't return it...
• Wipe warmer. Baby wakes up when you change him anyway, so having warm wipes won't make any difference.  
• Toys. He doesn't care yet. He will, but not yet.
• Humidifier? We are using ours, but I haven't noticed a difference in the snot yet. 

I think that's it for now.  I will say that swaddling and shsshing Daniel calms him down more than anything else we've done.  We don't want to depend on a pacifier,  and he doesn't really like taking one so that works out.  We've only had one screaming fit at two in the morning so far, and we're blessed (knock on wood!) that he's sleeping well.  I'm planning a post on breastfeeding as well because out of everything, that's been my biggest struggle.

One more thing...weight loss. I gained 40 pounds.  On my 5'4" frame, this is a lot of weight, given that I fluctuate between 125 and 130 when not pregnant.  After delivery and 12 days of breastfeeding, I'm already down 25 pounds.  Yes, 25!  Now, I'm flabby in my belly but I'll take it!  I'll start my vigorous work out videos once I'm cleared at my six week appt, but I've already started walking and will start running next weekend (dr. gave me permission).  I also just bought a belly compression belt to help pull everything back together.  My abs split so I have to fuse them before I can do ab workouts again.  I'm sure I'll post about weight loss and exercise too, as both are incredibly important to me.  My goal: a new two-piece bathing suit for our family reunion in June.  Bring it, Jillian Michael's workout videos. 

And I'll leave you with a picture.

lil nose scratch--newborn mittens help prevent these!