I find Southwest Airlines’ descriptors hilarious.

~Mrs.

OK. This morning I wrote this very long, very wonderful post about how Frankie has been really elusive since we brought Cheeks home from the hospital. I enumerated the many ways that she has managed to avoid contact with the new baby, described the pathetic way that she begs for treats and attention, and poured my guilt out through the keyboard. It was a post so filled with sympathy for her plight that, had it been written with real ink the pages would have leaked. Seriously. All over that nice, new T-shirt you’re wearing.

I hadn’t finished inserting the pictures I had of her hiding in her cat-cave when I was called away and forced to wait until later to publish. Man am I glad I waited!

Yes. That is Frankie. And Cheeks. Chillin’ on the ottoman like it is the most natural thing in the world. In fact, Cheeks promptly fell asleep while the cat yawned, groomed, and eventually stood up, sniffed the diaper, looked at me, and then walked away. As if to say, “Woman, how can you expect me to be friends with something that smells like that? Do I look like a dog to you?”

~Mrs.

Now that Cheeks has passed the six weeks mark the list of things make life with a baby easier that I’ve been keeping in my head has gotten to be sufficiently long and it’s time to write it down. So, if you’re planning on having a baby anytime soon (yes, I’m looking at you) then here is a list of the things that I find “essential”.

Cloth Diapers to use as burp cloths– some thin Birdseye for soaking up messes and some Gerber Organic for protecting my clothing from said messes.

Mom to Mom Baby Wipes — Nicer on his little baby bottom than the other wipes were. In fact, all traces of diaper rash cleared up when we switched to these wipes. Plus they are easy to pull from the package, a very important quality when you have one hand full of kicking baby legs.

Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive Diapers — What’s the big deal about these diapers? They have a stripe on them that turns blue when the diaper is wet. No more sneaky peeky. (They carry newborn size in the store)

Kiddopotamus & Co. Swaddle Me Blanket — The swaddle that he can’t squirm out of, on purpose or not.

Medela Nursing Bra Pads — Serious moisture wicking action and a little adhesive strip so they don’t move around. Nice.

Changing Table — Not as valuable for changing diapers as it is for calming baby. Cheeks spends hours just hanging out on the table, staring at the wall or a toy, kicking his legs, he even sleeps on it.

Cradle and (at least) 3 Extra Sheets — The cradle is small enough to put in your bedroom, you can see into it while you’re laying in bed, it rocks, and it’s long enough that he (hopefully) won’t outgrow it before he can roll over. These extra sheets are a lifesaver, unless you want to do laundry everyday, they are soft, wash well, and they stay on the mattress.

A Fan — Sounds stupid but its the cheapest white noise machine out there and it works. We already had a small one so it was kind of a freebie. We sit it next to the cradle and use it at night to keep the monster asleep.

Baby Monitor — This Sony has reception all over the three floors of our house, with the exception of one part of the basement. With this I can go anywhere in the house, or turn the music up, and not worry about listening for a crying baby.

Dishwasher Basket — I don’t have to pick little pacifiers and bottle pieces up from under the bottom rack. Babies “R” Us has an even bigger one that would be awesome except I’m not sure it would fit on my top rack, instead I have two of the smaller baskets.

Cheap Bottle Brush — The one that everyone loves because it’s aesthetically appealing is too big and the bristles are too stiff to clean the small-mouthed bottles that we use. Instead we use the brush that the hospital sent home with us.

Nightlights — The kind that come on when it gets dark in the room. These keep us from having to turn on the lights during night feeds (and thus waking Cheeks up even more), tripping over the dirty laundry piled in the hall, and allow us to see the kid in the cradle when he’s crying and I know it’s not been long enough for him to be hungry and I need to make sure he hasn’t wormed his way to the edge and gotten stuck with his forehead pressed against the side rungs. This has never happened to us before.

Glider — As long as it has moisture-proof, vinyl surfaces for easy clean-up after a particularly spectacular projectile spit-up incident then it’s perfect for rocking a fussy Cheeks into submission.

Pacifier Tethers — Those little buggers are next to impossible to keep track of. Attach one to the car seat, one to the bouncy chair, one to the cradle, one to the baby…

Extremely Nice to Have:

Stroller/Car Seat Combo — No transferring a sleeping Cheeks (or a formerly sleeping Cheeks) from one seat to another when you get in and out of the car.

Bottle Warmer — Much faster than using hot water and it heats evenly.

Mini-Fridge — Ours is in the nursery so that I store all the milk that I’ve expressed and keep his bottles handy for feeding. This way I don’t have to traipse up and down the stairs in the middle of the night.

Manual Breast Pump and a Nice Electric Pump — Not that I have to have both but the manual is great for pumping when I’m away from home for too long. The reason for the NICE electric breast pump is that the less than nice pumps don’t always have enough power to pump both breasts at once. Pumping could take twice as long. Suck.

Baby Tub — It has a sling (not pictured) for him to lay on so we don’t have to hold him up. Less work. Sweet.

~Mrs.

Every evening when Mr. comes home from work he asks me, “So, what did you two do today?” My answer is always the same, “Nothing.” And every night when we’re sitting down to dinner I wonder to myself, “What did I do today?” I’m always tired beyond belief, feeling rushed, and frustrated because there’s not enough time in the day, but what am I doing all day? And then this morning I came across a blog at one of my regular internet stops that held the solution to my problem. The Did Do List.

Today I kept track of everything that I did and when Mr. came home I was able to remember everything that I’d done. And then direct him to the blog post because I was too tired to talk about it. In fact, I was so tired that I asked him twice if he ever got to the landing half way up the stairs and then seriously considered laying down on the floor right there for a little nap. He has not.

As you’re reading through my list you might notice some things that seem trivial. Ate a bowl of cereal? Really? Well, let me tell you, my eating that bowl of cereal required weeks of careful coordination, planning, and a lot of help and cooperation on the part of Mr. In fact, two weeks ago I rarely was able to eat breakfast. Pathetic, I know.

So….MY DID DO LIST FOR 8.20.2008:

• Expressed Milk (pumped) for 1 1/2 hours
• Changed 5 diapers
• Dressed 1 baby one time
• Fed Little Dude for 1 3/4 hours
• Wiped down 1 dirty baby twice
• Cleaned up after one spit-up incident
• Showered (and washed my hair!)
• Ate Breakfast
• Checked the Internets (they are still there, *sigh of relief*)
• Trimmed and cleaned my nails
• Did 2 sets of baby neck stretching
• Met Mr. for lunch
• Sat in the sun for 30 minutes
• Read for 1 hour (and finished my book)
• Washed and folded 3 loads of laundry
• Washed and refilled bottles
• Tidied up the house
• Unloaded the dishwasher
• Made dinner and ate it with very little interruption (had my dinner and ate it too!)
• Baked a peach cobbler
• Reloaded the dishwasher
• Cleaned up the bathroom after the kid’s bath
• Flossed

And now I’m going to bed so that maybe tomorrow I won’t stop and consider napping on the stair landing.

~Mrs.