Rookie Moms

Some people love pregnancy. They will find you and tell you how wonderful it was for them. I am not one of those people. Sure, I like certain aspects (growing an actual human and eating chocolate with reckless abandon for instance) but I do not looooooooove backaches, brain fade, sore hips, massive moodswings, fat ankles, heartburn, etc. etc.

Milk It: How to Get More Than a Baby out of the Next Nine Months is a light-hearted little book with helpful and funny tips for making it through this amazing transition (while getting the attention and stuff that you’re undoubtedly entitled to). My favorite tips were how to stand pregnant on a bus to make sure you always get a seat and what to take from the plethora of freebies at the hospital during baby-delivery.

I think this book makes a sweet little “congrats you’re pregnant” gift in the same spirit as Hot Mama: How to Have a Babe and Be a Babe. Until the great Rookie Moms book comes out, these’ll have to do…

Has being a mom become your only hobby? Spend today thinking about what other hobby you would like bring back to your life or start, and make a plan to get into it.

I like to make stuff and read about making stuff on craft blogs. It took me a while to get back into it after Julian was born, but it really felt good. Lots of people say that exercise is the hobby they’ve been missing. Um, not me.

This picture of Heather was taken by me in June of 2002. We decided to stay up all night and run around the city. We went for a run at 10.30 PM, ate tapas, went to an Oxygen bar, saw a Tom Cruise movie at 1.45 am, and then watched the World Cup on a projected image at a friend’s house. We took lots of cabs and finished our adventure at 6.20 in the morning.

Little did we know that we would be staying up all night taking care of babies a couple years later. Ironically we made shirts to commemorate this evening that said “Not a girl, not yet a soccer mom”, a play on the Britney Spears song. Apparently we did know what was coming.

That pretty much sums up other stuff I like to do: run around doing weird stuff with Heather, taking pictures of weird stuff we do together, make t-shirts about the weird stuff we’ve done.

If you like to rock climb, quilt, or go to poetry slams, you should keep doing it. If you’ve already done it, brag to us here.

If junior’s head control is improving, it is time to try out a few minutes on the baby swing. Watch baby very closely and maybe support his frame by filling in the space around him with blankets (or shoving another baby in there behind him, as pictured).

If you’re only up for a five minute visit, that’s cool… if you’re anything like us, you’ll be spending lots and lots of time here over the next several months and you might as well ease into it.

I think this was more fun for me than for him, but it was very fun for me.

This picture shows the super advanced move of putting two babies in one swing.

Halloween is a favorite holiday of mine. In San Francisco, it is a really big deal, and we, as pre-baby adults, celebrated full force every year. When I learned I was going to have a baby two weeks before Halloween, I was planning his outfit before my belly was even visible to the public.

As a crafty chick, I assumed I would make my child’s Halloween costume every year. However, since trying this motherhood thing on for real, I have gotten a reality check. So far I haven’t had time for a DIY baby costume. If you have a newborn, I highly recommend using a pair of pajamas with a theme. Add accessories as your baby will tolerate. I was obsessed with Julian’s giraffe “costume” from Gymboree. So the fact that he didn’t show up until two days before Halloween, and we spent it in a hospital, did not stop me from dressing him like a giraffe for most of November. (Witness my five-day old son in his baby costume that year.)

When he was 12 months old, Gymboree did me right again, with a pair of pjs that have a skeleton on them. (See this years toddler halloween costumes from Gymboree.) Look how happy he is; he has an appropriate toddler costume, and hair! What a difference a year makes.

Baby Gap also has great baby costumes that are pj-ish. Either let them do the work for you (ie order one of these) or get inspired to make your own, using a pair of pajamas as your base. (See all baby Halloween costumes from Baby Gap, and then check Old Navy, cause most of theirs are less than $15.00.)

And finally, for those who are making their child’s costume, One Step Ahead sells solid-colored mock turtleneck and sweatpant combos for turning into costumes or wearing underneath them. They come in red, green, black, pink, and more.

DIY baby costumes that I admire
1. Make a merbaby outfit by Secret Agent Josephine
2. Elvis baby by Christy (RM.com reader)
3. R2D2 for an infant by Myke

Halloween costumes for babies can tend to be expensive and worn only for a 10-minute photo shoot. Holden (pictured) at 6 months old wore three costumes in about ten minutes — his official costume was the chili pepper (also from Babystyle); his runner up was a free borrowed baby pumpkin; his homemade costume was the wizard with his robes (AKA sleep sack) and an enormous hat we had stashed in our costume box. And with all that effort (and so many options), he “refused” to leave the house so Heather could get some free candy with her cute baby-prop.

So, if your best intentions to make a costume get you no where, save your money, and spend it on a babysitter for yourself. Go out for a drink after baby has gone to bed so that you can check out all the crazy costumes worn by people who still party. That’s my new Halloween tradition.