Planning and Partying: A Diaper Shower and Other Useful Gifts

This is my third child. We also have not found out ahead of time the gender. This makes many people who are very kind and want to give us something for the baby scratch their heads: "What the heck do you get?"

Audra, Brooks' wife, was really thoughtful and threw me a diaper shower.  It was a lot of fun, and what mom wouldn't be excited to gain a six-month supply of diapers?!  Boy or girl, everyone poops. 

As I've been going through things and trying to prepare for this new child, there are some items that have come to mind as being useful for any pregnant mother. Please don't take this as a wish list for me: it's really meant for anyone who is stumped and needs some baby gift ideas that will be helpful to any mom. 

1. Diapers and wipes as I mentioned above. I'm still buying diapers for Paul and he's two. Need I say more?

2. Stain remover and laundry detergent. Okay this seems like a boring gift, but seriously, there are not many items more practical. I run through Shout like it's no body's business.  You could give the mom a splurge with some Dreft (which I never buy because I'm too cheap), or any fragrance-free detergent.  While I'm on the subject, you could make it a cleaning-themed basket with magic erasers, dry cleaning fluid, or other cleaning supplies that are practically essential with children.  (Excuse me while I pause to go "erase" crayon off my wall courtesy of Paul.)

image via slightly crunchy mom

 3. Frozen meals. You pretty much need to be a local friend for this one, but adding a new baby to the dinner routine makes meal prep frenzied, especially when everyone's trying to get adjusted to  a new routine.  Something homemade that can be microwaved or baked straight out of the freezer is WONDERFUL!  I hope to get a few extra things cooked ahead of time.  We're out in no-delivery land, but for those moms in town, you could also get them gift cards to the chinese or pizza delivery place nearby.

4. Teething necklaces. I don't own any of these, but they look cool and don't depend on whether baby is a he or she. Mom can be stylish while pacifying the baby. I'm thinking perfect for church or other "please be quiet" times.  The brand pictured above is called "Chew Beads," although I believe there are others.

5. Child or baby-sized clothing hangers. Especially ones for bottoms. Many outfits come with plastic hangers, but if this this a mom with other children, she's using those for her other kids' clothes. Buying some nice hangers is something she probably won't buy herself, although she wishes she did. As an additional item, you could make or purchase dividers that separate baby clothes by size.   There are a ton of tutorials on Pinterest that are really cute.

6. Baby Wash.  I still use baby wash on Clara and she's (almost) four.  Why not?  I often stock up on multiple bottles of the really expensive 'natural' baby wash that has been marked down at the grocery store to half-price (or less).  The fancy stuff really is a treat over the Johnson & Johnson.  You could always throw in a nice wash cloth, bath towel, or tub toy to complete the gift.

What have I left off the list?  Any moms out there have any other practical gift ideas for preggos?

Progress: 30 weeks

Here I am at 30 weeks (actually just a day or so away from 31 weeks, but who's keeping track?).  It's not a very glamorous photo, but you can see that I am indeed pregnant. 

I am feeling well.  I think I am starting to waddle around  :-)  Overall, I am grateful that we have made it through numerous birthdays, a bridal shower, and a wedding.  We still have Thanksgiving, my birthday, and Christmas before Baby #3 arrives.

There's not a ton of preparation to do for this third child, especially when you already have little girl and boy clothes.  In the next few weeks I'll pull out some of the newborn clothes and give them a fresh laundering.  It's getting time to pull out the baby toys and accessories out of the attic and pack the hospital bag.  I need to order a skinny car seat (so I can fit 3 car seats in the back of my car instead of buying another car!).  Yes, another dreaded car seat!!

Our List: Hopefully Improved

It's well past time for my bag to be packed.  You can see my list below, and you can see that there are NO check marks in the circles.  Thankfully, Thumper has been comfortable and not anxious to make an early appearance, so I'm in the clear thus far.  Because we've done this once before, despite my late packing, I hope to pack a little smarter. 

One thing we totally forgot last time was a going-home outfit for the baby!  How embarrassing!  Pat literally went to the hospital gift shop and bought a little sleeper so Clara didn't go home in just a diaper.  It's really important that the baby's outfit is car seat compatible - i.e.: allows for a seat belt between the baby's legs. This means no sleepers or swaddling blankets.

We both remember how miserable Pat slept at the hospital.  I was fine, but I was in a bed; he had a mediocre couch.  He was freezing cold and uncomfortable.  So, to help, this time I'm packing THICK socks and an extra blanket and pillow for him.  He has also mentioned staying in a nearby hotel :-)

The hospital food was LOUSY - both my meals and the meals Pat bought at the cafeteria.  There is a Starbucks in the hospital, but it has limited hours.  I plan to bring a few snacks, but truthfully, this is a hard one - you can't exactly bring three days worth of meals for two people in your duffle bag.  I guess we just won't expect too much in this department.

And yes, you did see "granny panties" third on the list.

Plans for The Big Girl Room

So a big aspect preparing for Thumper involves getting Clara in her own big girl room.

Somehow with over 8 months of time to prepare, and the nesting instincts going through the roof, this still has not happened. 

We did get a van load of liquor boxes delivered via Brooks yesterday, and I spent a considerable part of the afternoon packing.  (Did I mention there's hundreds of books, big gym equipment, and a king size bed in the room right now?  Oh, well, there is.)

Since I consider myself a "planner," I want to share with you my plans:

Bed:  After much deliberation, I decided on this one:

I bought two of them, because I plan on setting up Clara's room for Thumper at the same time.  (It's a big room - they'll eventually share.)  After completing the purchase, I promptly received an email AND a phone call from my credit card company questioning this "potentially fraudulent" charge.  Ha, ha!

The Mattress: I purchased two twin memory foam mattresses from Costco.

Sheets and Bed Spread: Completely undecided.  Although ideally, Clara's bed will have my never-finished knitted quilt someday.

Color Scheme: I'm loving yellow and gray for accent colors, like in these Dwell Studio Rugs:

Bookshelves: I love this idea as both a way to display books and decorate the walls.

DIY instructions found here or if you're fortunate enough to have an ikea nearby (i.e. less than 4 hours away), you can easily substitute IKEA picture ledges.  I plan to tackle the DIY method.  I think this is a do-able nap-time (or maybe a few nap-times) project.  Plus more ledge for the money.

Couch: I'm moving my Ikea Klippan loveseat from grad school time in Austin (which has been unattractively residing in the living room) to the new bedroom.
 

Playtable: This is another area that I'm still debating on.  I could repurpose one of our current coffee tables (which looks very similar to the picture below) into a playtable fairly easily.  (I haven't mentioned this to Pat yet.)

I'd sand and paint the top with chalkboard paint, plus add lockable casters to the bottom.  It would look something like this:

The only problem is little seats.  No little seats.  I'm tempted to make something in this area also, but I know I'd be stretching my time (and available resources) thin.  Plus, DIY is not Pat's love.  At all.  So the alternative is purchasing a little play table and/or seats.  There are a bunch of nice wooden ones on the Pottery Barn Kids website, but I've been hesitant to pull the trigger because I want a 'deal.'  Besides the DIY method, I've come across no 'deals.'  Bah.

Those are the main ideas, although there's a bazillion other details that will make the room: curtains, lamps/lighting, toy storage - oh my, as the list goes on, I'm getting overwhelmed, so I'm going to stop listing all that I have to do.  Okay?

The Wall

My last post talked about how I've been working on my quilt (still am!).  The other project to finish in preparation for the new baby is a stone wall by our pool.  This is a project that was started last summer.  I saw on the internet how to build a stone wall without mortar.  I said, "I can do that.  It probably won't take me more than a day or two."  Huh, huh, huh. My dad came down to help me.  He was here for 5 days.  We finished about 1/4 of it.  To put it mildly, I miscalculated. 

This is my pool/patio/wall inspiration:

Not quite a year later, it is still unfinished.  But I have not given up.  Since I learned of my due date, I've been working on my wall a little at a time, about 30 minutes to an hour each day.  I'd say I'm 2/3 of the way done now.  I'll post some pictures soon so you can see the progress.  Actually, I think I'm going to go out and work right now while someone is sleeping!