Rookie Moms

Our mothers might swear by clothes dryers and vacuum cleaners, but I found that my yoga ball was a great tool to soothe my crying baby. Sit on it, holding swaddled baby, and bounce to a consistent rhythm.

If you don’t have a yoga ball, sit on the edge of your bed and bounce while you hold the baby. If someone is visiting and wants to help soothe the baby, show them this trick and then go get yourself a hot shower so that you don’t eavesdrop.

If you’ve already started your maternity leave but are just waiting for your baby bundle’s arrival, you have a golden window of opportunity to get some stuff done. But what?

When it was my turn, I lounged around the house getting very bored before my good friend Scott decided he wanted to learn to swim. Anyway, he and I hit all the area pools and I conducted impromptu swim lessons while on-lookers assumed he was the father of my belly. That was a nice few days… but apart from that, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

My best ideas:

• Review our kick-ass registry/shopping list and make sure you have essentials on-hand. Then if you want to shop at Target on Day 8 of your baby’s life, it’s by choice.
• Do a little pre-reconnaissance (pre-con?) mission to some of your favorite locations. You’re looking for a changing table and general baby-friendliness.
• Tackle your own crazy nesting projects — for me it was cooking, freezing, cleaning, shopping (it all seemed to have happened on the Tuesday before my water broke), for you maybe pulling weeds or knitting sweaters
• Eat a pomegranate with your partner — make a wish for the baby with each of the many seeds
• Call all your friends — they’re wondering if you’re giving birth every second they can’t reach you on the phone anyway
• Relax and savor your (uncomfortable) body and life at this very moment

Gotta run… my baby’s crying and he’s the boss of me!

Last night was the second time I made us a pizza for dinner. It was fun to play with the dough, choose toppings, and eat my resulting (some say “deformed”, we say “artisan”) creations. Alec was really impressed that I could get a hot fresh pizza on the table in about a half hour without a lot of cursing.

If you’re looking to get fresh, seasonal meals on the table in under a half-hour, let me suggest topping homemade organic pizza dough with seasonal produce and chucking it in the oven at 500 for 7 minutes.

Oakland mom, Kim Cole, started making and freezing pizza dough when she was pregnant so her family would have quick, healthy meals once her baby was born. Me? I collected take-out menus. But Kim was kind enough to give me some of her dough, which is sold around the Bay Area under the name Mom’s Pizza Dough. So, she set me up for success.

Bay Area Parents can look for Mom’s Pizza Dough at Market Hall and The Pasta Shop.

No special equipment is needed, but now is the time to bust it out if you have it. Did anyone else register for a pizza cutting wheel and pizza stone?! You can use a rolling pin or the side of a can; you can use a cookie sheet if you don’t have a special pizza pie pan. If you have a pizza stone, as we do, I really recommend getting a peel (that cool pizza board looking thing) — it will save you some aggravation moving the raw pizza and look really cool in the process.

More info and recipes at momspizzadough.com

Rookie Moms Blue Tshirt
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I had these shirts made for me and Heather, but help yourself to ordering one. Let me know if you want it to say something different.

Clueless Mom
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