So, today I was having a conversation with one of my close friends about toys..which definitely got me thinking about what kind of mom I'll be in general.
I have all these ideas, but I know the reality will be very different. For example, I don't want my house to be overrun with toys. I get that kids like toys, but babies are entertained by simple things like kleenex boxes, locked cell phones and remote controls...do they really need a million blocks, stuffed animals, and plastic stuff? One of The Husband's friends has a one in one out rule for any toys. If their child gets a new toy, they have to choose an old toy to donate. I love this idea!! I also think there are good storage options for housing toys. Have you ever walked into someone house and seen stacks of toys in every corner? Yuck! I'd like to utilize our basement as play space, but also have a nice storage unit (maybe one that is also a bench for more seating) that hides all the toys when baby Beals isn't playing with them.
I realize I need to think a little sooner than toys...like sleeping. So many people have baby sleep in their room with them...in a bassinet or a pack and play or their bed (weird). I don't want to do that. Our closest friends put their baby in his crib in the other room right away. I'd like to think that is what we'll do. I know I'll be tired...really, I know...but I don't think I'll bitch and moan too much about walking a little further to his room to feed him or change him or soothe him.
I'm sure all of my parent friends have opinions on these things and I'd love to hear them. Not everything works the same for everyone, but I KNOW you all had a vision of how you'd do things before your bundle of joy appeared.
So when people came over to our house, they'd always say, "Wow! It doesn't even look like you have a baby." (but they said it in that PNW, passive aggressive way, you know) I'd say, "Well, we outnumber him...one baby to two adults!" He had a ton of crap, but I didn't feel the need to have it in my living room, and we put it away when he was done, singing, "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share." That served not only to keep our house tidy but also to teach him the ethic of putting things away when you're done. Now, we have a "playroom." It's right off of the dining room, so I can check on him, but it's a kid's paradise from Pottery Barn. However, even though our family has our playspace, I LOVE RockBand, so we do family RockBand marathons, we still clean up every night. It keeps everything nice and neat and keeps me from getting overwhelmed. We even sing the song sometimes...but only if Ian resists my commands... :) Oh, and as for the bed thing? We had him in his own bed the day he came home from the hospital. We had one of those little Moses baskets, and we put IT in the bed and Ian in the basket...like one of those Russian doll things. I think it made him feel more snug. We swaddled the crap out of him, and he was sleeping through the night by 3 months, and we slept better, too. I did lots of things wrong...I nursed him to sleep, calmed him when he cried in the bed, and sometimes, when I wasn't just exhausted, I held him for hours while he slept. Then, when it was time, I put him in his crib. Yeah, the last part was selfish, but they grow up in the blink of an eye. I was just too in love with him to be away from him sometimes...still am. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't think we'd have Fiona sleeping in our room for more than a couple months, but here we are at almost 5 months and she's still next to us in the pack n play and not likely to sleep in her crib until she's no longer breastfeeding. I definitely didn't think we'd have her in the bed at all, but when she wakes up at 4am and wants to eat it's a lot easier to feed her in bed. Then I can just go back to sleep with her instead of trying to get her back to sleep in the pack n play. The nice thing about having her in our bed in the morning is that she'll stay asleep with Arn while I eat breakfast and get ready. It's so cute to see them sleeping together.
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