As far as I know little E completes our family. Being that he is baby number three, I think it’s safe to say I’ve learned a few things about surviving those first few weeks at home with a newborn. With E now eight weeks new, I’ve managed to settle in with a nice feeling of really enjoying and embracing babyhood and being a little more laid back this time around. Too bad the first didn’t come with such insight.
Here’s what I’ve learned….
1. Let the housework go. Don’t stress about it. Keep reminding yourself the house won’t be messy forever. One day they will go to school and you will have plenty of time to clean. I know this for a fact because somewhere between my 8 year old and my 19 month old I had a very tidy house for awhile.
2. The more kids you have the more your living room is going to look like Toys R Us than Pottery Barn. Accept it.
2. Go ahead and let the laundry pile up, don’t feel guilty about it. When you run out of clean underwear or hubby needs clean socks you’ll find time to throw in a load or two.
3. Take a lot (and I mean a lot) of pictures. You’ll cherish them now, and later. Babies change so fast and it’s fun to compare what they looked like last week to this week. I swear our littlest is changing overnight.
4. Relish the 3am snuggles. I promise you, one day your presence will no longer be required at 3am and you might actually miss those quiet middle of the night snuggles.
5. Take a break when you can. You deserve it, put your feet up. Naptime = Me Time (refer to points 1 and 2).
6. On the days where you are at your wits end throw the kids in the car and hit the Starbucks drive-thru.
7. Get out of the house. Even if that means just hitting the Starbucks drive-thru (see #6). You can make it there and back before you have to nurse again!
8. Invest in a good concealer and mascara (and use it). You’ll look better no matter how much sleep you got or didn’t get, and it will make you feel better.
9. Set one goal for the day…one thing you want to get done. If you accomplish it, you’ll feel like a million bucks. More than likely it will get done because it’s just one thing and if you get more done you’ll feel even better about yourself.
10. You don’t need to wash your hair every day – really. I mean, what else could you do with that time?
11. Buy a pair of jeans after eight weeks. If your clothes actually fit, you’ll look better and feel better.
12. Nursing bras suck.
13. I don’t care what anyone or any book says. Some kids will wake up every time you run the vaccuum cleaner or the dog barks and some will manage to sleep through it all. You’ve just got to figure out which one you’ve got and work accordingly 😉
14. Never wake a sleeping baby. Ever.
15. Hold your little one as much as you want to and kiss on those little baby cheeks as much as you can. The first year will go by faster than any other.
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