top 5 for week one!

There's only so much you can do when you have a sleeping newborn beside you who is due for her feeding at any moment. I choose to dwell on facebook, update my blog, and compulsively watch Lifetime. Lifetime has been surprising me lately. There's actually been some good movies on there, Lifetime Original films aside. Tonight, for instance, Bridget Jones was on. Love that movie. I know I had my hiatus from tv for years and am slowly reintroducing cable back into my daily routine (bad) , but I always had a bad taste in my mouth due to my mom forcing me to watch 15 and Pregnant twenty times during my formative years...

Anyhow, I figured I'd do a post on the things that helped me get through Natalie's first week. I'm not going to name the obvious-- diapers, wipes, feeding supplies, etc...

Rather, I'll list the things that I really had NO IDEA about prior to using them.

1. The pack-n-play

We aren't going to put Natalie into her nursery for a few months, so this thing has been a lifesaver. It's mobile, so I can wheel it around our bedroom for a change of scenery. Believe me, I rarely leave our bedroom these days, and this is needed. It has a changing pad and a newborn napper that keeps her snug and warm and that she doesn't mind sleeping in, though I am the mom who is going to spoil her child by rocking her in a rocking chair too much. She gets the hiccups a lot, and I can't bear to have her on her back struggling through hiccups, so she falls asleep on my chest a lot. And I wake up with a sore neck. A lot. Anyhow... love the pack-n-play. It's sooo functional and will only continue to be so.

2. The boppy!

This has been my salvation through trying to nurse. Natalie actually tolerates being on this thing as opposed to the crappy hospital pillows. Trust me, bring your own pillows to the hospital. I only brought one from home, and I regret it. It would have been so much easier to attempt nursing her there with a sturdier pillow.

3. Soundspa machine
I like to simulate the womb for Natalie so I put on the heartbeat sound setting and go about my business aka trying to take a shower before she makes a peep.

4. Receiving blankets

The swaddled child is the quieter child. :) I call them her baby Jesus clothes.

5. Car seat

Although Natalie's only been on two car trips, we have her car seat propped up on the kitchen island as a place for her to sit while I'm washing dishes or cleaning up downstairs. She sleeps really well in there, and I only assembled one of her bouncy seats today, so it's been good to have.

Anyhow, I was going to post pictures, but...someone's a wailing...