Jenna McCarthy is one funny mother. (No, not Jenny McCarthy, although I suppose she is funny, too.) Jenna McCarthy started her writing career in New York for the glamorous Seventeen magazine. Dude. Back in the day, I soooo wanted to work at that magazine. My inner teenager was a wee bit jealous as I read McCarthy’s bio. Anyway, McCarthy’s bicoastal career eventually led her to Santa Barbara where she became a radio talent, a mother of two, and a very, very funny writer of the book The Parent Trip: From High Heels and Parties to Highchairs and Potties.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of parenting books; I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to them and they pretty much all make me feel inadequate. Not so with The Parent Trip. It’s more like reading the diary of one of your more humorous friends - a diary that spans pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and the first year of parenting. McCarthy touches on the highs and lows of pregnancy, labor, navigating the evils of a new mom’s group, breastfeeding, toys, the first vacation, you get my drift. All that crap we never thought we’d spend dozens of hours agonizing about as new mothers.
I am * so * bored being pregnant. Sy was a month early so I just naively assumed this one would be, too. HA! I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t even pick things up off the floor anymore. Whenever I am cooking and I drop food on the floor, I just shrug my shoulders at Sy and tell her that Dad’s gonna have to clean it up. I tell myself I am just channeling my inner Julia Child. This morning Roger leaned over to pick something up (probably food off the floor) and Sy said, “See Mommy, Daddy can bend over!”
Thanks. Thanks for that, my little three year old peanut gallery.
I won’t even mention the scene a few weeks back when a hostess at a local restaurant asked me IF I COULD STILL FIT IN A BOOTH?
Come closer, so I can punch you in the neck.
So I sit and wait. And wait. And drink chocolate shakes and wait. Sy is getting anxious. I am getting bored and huge. I look like a sea lion, all body and a teeny tiny head. I have my bag all packed by the door, waiting for the exciting trip to the hospital. Because really, labor is fun! Naught. I find myself wishing my packed bag looked a little more like this one from Little Stork, but apparently I forgot to get one. Instead, I’ve thrown a few totally random things into Sy’s banged up pink duffel bag. At least I know better than to pack my make-up this time.
Even though the new arrival won’t be eating solid food for another six months, cookbooks are great gifts to give to a new parent. One of my favorites is First Meals by Annabel Karmel. She’s a Cordon Bleu trained chef who has come up with some rather inventive kid food. Karmel’s recipes show her training. I rarely have shallots or parsnips in the pantry, but who cares? I am not going to run out and get them because I think it’s totally acceptable to swap those out for onions and some carrots, don’t you?
When Sy was a beginning eater she insisted we eat with the book by her high chair because she loved the picture of the baby on the cover so much. So yeah, I guess we love the book from cover to cover, literally. At three years old, I still come up with some creative ways to do pasta and vegetables for Sy using Karmel’s recipes.
You could add in a book for the wee one too. Dim Sum for Everyone is a favorite in our house. Sy is a big fan of dim sum in general. Lots of egg-less dishes and cart after cart of food rolling past you. What’s not to love?
I know bringing someone diapers is not very exciting, but boy is it helpful. Diapers are expensive and a newborn blows through them (pun intended) faster than you can imagine. You might want to ask what size the baby is wearing first. You can see our favorite diapers reviewed here and here. As I mentioned in the first review, I loved Huggies in the red package best for newborns before moving on to Seventh Generation and Fuzzi Bunz.
Want to make the gift a little more personal?
Throw in a Diapees and Wipees case to add to the cute factor in the diaper bag.
As we all know, having a newborn in your house changes the dynamic, uh, dramatically. It’s hard enough to get your teeth brushed, let alone dinner on the table. One of the best gifts ever to new parents? FOOD! If you are close by, obviously you can whip up a four course, five star dinner for them while your toddler naps, right? Don’t forget a salad and some dessert. I swooned every time anyone brought me brownies when I had Sy.
If you live afar, check out our two favorite sources:
Artikochef.com, (see Jenny’s review here).
Impromptu Gourmet - They have some off the hook brownies, by the way.
When you bring food, you’ll make a new parent’s day. Plain and simple. My grandfather’s recipe for Plakki, a vegetarian stew, after the jump.
A couple of weeks ago we touched on Big Sibling gifts, so this week we thought we’d throw out some ideas for the new baby as well as the new baby’s parents. One of Jenny’s favorite gifts to give is monogrammed/personalized towels. Obviously you have to know the babe’s name, so unless the parents have already spilled the name beans, you’d have to wait until the kid arrived on the scene.
Pottery Barn Kids has some simple, gingham edged towels that can be personalized along the hood. $20.00 each. Pottery Barn Kids also has an organic towel, but monogramming is not yet offered on that item.
My friend Kate wrote a review of her favorite pump for us. Thanks, Kate!
I am a pumping queen. I pump every three hours, day and night. My pumping odyssey began in February when my son was born prematurely. Due to his premature birth and the calories it takes to suck, I was only allowed to breastfeed him twice a day for ten minutes each time during his stay in the NICU. I was struggling with my milk supply and so, during this time, I started pumping every two to three hours to establish my supply and produce enough to keep up with his feeds. After he was discharged, we never successfully transitioned from the bottle to the breast and so I continued pumping and bottle feeding.
I’ve used EVERY SINGLE Medela double-electric pump on the market. I’ve even burned through the motor on a hospital grade Medela Symphony pump. The Medela Freestyle is, hands down, the best Medela pump on the market. Originally, I had purchased the Medela Pump-in-Style Advanced, which was a great pump but it is in a large black tote, and was just not super portable. At nights, I used the Medela Symphony, which isn’t portable at all. Then the Freestyle was released. The Freestyle touts itself as Medela’s first hands-free, double-electric pump. It fits in the palm of your hand and is completely portable. All of this is true, and more. As it stands, I am writing this while pumping both breasts.
So this gift is a little over the top, I’ll admit. One of Sy’s pals has one of these Galt “Nursery Folding Trampolines” and it’s just too much fun. I figure Sy will be going stir-crazy from being so housebound the first few weeks of new babydom, why not get her something that helps her get her ya-yas out? We haven’t purchased it, but wouldn’t it be cool to come home to your own personal gymnasium after visiting the interloper at the hospital? Nothing shouts I’M A BIG GIRL like careening off of a trampoline at an alarming clip.
Sy and her pals tend to argue over turns a lot. Hours of entertainment. OK, well, maybe 15 minute stretches of entertainment AND exercise. Nobody’s broken anything yet, so they keep on jumping. Let’s be clear, the folks at Galt say one kid max (77 pound maximum), but I’ll be the first to admit Sy does her share of tandem jumping with a pal. When have I ever read the instructions before I let my kid play with a toy?
I think a coloring book is a great thing to have in your hospital bag if your older kiddo wants to stick around and visit for a while but isn’t stoked to just stare into their new sibling’s eyes. Taro Gomi’s Doodles: A Really Giant Coloring and Doodling Book is one of my favorites.
And, dude, it is just so much more than a coloring book.
I have one of these kid-sized sling packed in my hospital bag to give to Sy when she comes to meet Version 2.0. It is designed to carry dolls, trucks, dinosaurs, etc. Sy spends most of her time trying to tuck her most beloved lovie into her shirt to carry it around, so I think Jo Jo will fit in just perfectly in this little sling. It’s made by Hotslings, so you could of course have matching slings if you so desired. And then you could get matching Laura Ashley dresses and really paint the town red. Do they still make Laura Ashley clothing for kids? Ah yes, they do.
Anyway, the cutie pie little sling is shoulder-tacked for easy use. One size. Fits toddlers and preschoolers best. I’ll let you know Sy and her lovie, Jo Jo, like it.
Not too bad at $15.00 in the “Gifts” section over at the Nurture Center.
All of my pals with two or more kiddos always tell me how important it is to have activities or special items that are solely focused on the older kid(s). If your Big Sibling is a bit older, how about some personalized stationery? They could write to their grandparents or special friend. I know that one of Sy’s favorite activities is to run to the mailbox to see if there’s a postcard from her grandmother or auntie. Going to the post office is almost on par with hitting a theme park in her eyes.
I really like Dani Notes. Her style is so crisp and fun, perfect for a kiddo. What little kid doesn’t want to zoom off in their own personal rocket ship??
Welcome to Big Sibling Week.
I’m mighty curious as to how Sy is going to react to having a new baby in the house. Jenny and I were discussing tactics to help the eldest cope. Nothing says coping like a new present, right? We both think it’s nice to give the big sibling a gift, not the wee one, since really, the baby doesn’t need a whole heck of a lot, do they? I think books are always superb gifts; they don’t make noise, they are easy to pack and you usually learn something. Not only that, but you can breastfeed your newborn while reading to your older child. Two birds with one stone, my friends.
When I told my pal AJ I was going to have another baby, she immediately sent us, ”I’m a Big Sister,” by Joanna Cole and Maxi Chambliss, published by Harper Collins. They also have a boy version, I’m a Big Brother with similar verbiage, just a different gender.
Today’s GHM Giveaway is from Bawl Baby, a Mom-Run company that at least makes spit-up a bit more fashionable. Bawl Baby’s “Ultimate Burpie” boasts extra length and width, keeping mom and dad in the same outfit for at least another few hours. Not only is this product decked out with posh fabrics, it is actually functional with its convenient pockets for toting everyday essentials, i.e., tissues, nursing pads, diapers, and even a safe place for pacifiers, all in one. It’d be a good one to hang over the side of your glider or sofa. Check out their line of groovy fabrics to choose from.
You can even customize the burp cloths to match your nursery.
Congratulations to winner Elise!
How To Enter:
Just enter a comment below, and make sure to enter your email so we can contact you when you win (it’s never shared, sold, rented, nor will others be able to view it). Contest ends Wednesday, 7/09/08 at 11:59 p.m. CST. See full GHM Giveaway rules here.
My friend Lisa’s second daughter just about goes nuts for her little BPA-less giraffe teether. We often see them on walks, her daughter in the stroller gumming away happily on her giraffe. She got it over at the Soft Landing, a fantastic site committed to BPA, PVC and pthalate-free shopping and blogging. They focus on healthier feeding and teething options for kiddos.
The Soft Landing has cool BPA-free sampler sets for bottles, sippy cups, stainless steel drinking devices, teethers and feeding sets. Everything seems to be on sale right now, too! Good ideas for shower gifts! I know when Sy was wee and couldn’t breast feed for the first few months, I tried every bottle out there. A sampler would have been a great thing to bust out.
Make sure you check out their blog, too. They have an incredible amount of information on safer plastics.
When Sy was little she seemed to actually enjoy playing in her Gymini activity “gym” by Tiny Love. It’s not like she could tell me in so many words, but she was happy batting at toys and looking at all the stripes. Usually for about ten minutes, and then we had to move on, but ten minutes of free arm time is golden with a four month old.
You know, a play mat is sort of a silly thing and it seems excessive, but we used it all the time. If your cleaning habits don’t resemble Martha Stewart’s, it’s nice to know you have a clean spot for them to play at any time (the mat is easily unsnapped and washed). Yes, you can throw your kid on a blanket and call it a day, but Sy really liked playing with all the little dangly things and scratching at the circus scene on the mat. I’ve kept mine handy as my pals have had second kids, it’s nice to be able to bring it out when they stop by for a play date and my carpet is looking a little less than tidy (shocking, isn’t it?).
It’s also pretty portable if you are going to a relatives for the day. The “bars” unsnap easily and can be rolled up in the mat.
