Thursday Thirteen - Things I Learned

Its been awhile since I did a Thursday Thirteen so, why not? Anyway, here are the 13 things that I learned with Aaron. At least they won't surprise me in this second round.

1) It is not a waste of money to buy maternity clothes. At least you'll be comfortable and don't need to look too frumpy. I made a few of my tops but had no clue with the pants and ended up buying at about 7 months.

2) Don't worry about the fat you put on. Its required, and breastfeeding should help take care of it. I hope it works again this time.

3) You don't forget all about labor pains once its over. Memories. VERY VIVID. Not looking forward to next January.

4) Breastfeeding does not come naturally. Many painful lessons taken by both parties. I have also heard that just because we eventually worked it out the first time doesn't mean that breastfeeding baby #2 will be easier.

5) A breastfed baby's poop is NOT sweet smelling.

6) You don't need to worry if your breastfed baby does not do a No. 2 for 10 days. It will come when its ready, YOU just need to be ready for it.

7) There is no point trying to schedule breastfed feeds. Instead, adopt open 24 hrs, on demand, free drinks mentality.

8) The easiest way to put a baby to sleep is to feed it to sleep. Forget about all that sleep training and controlled crying. I was really hung up on this one and felt like a total failure when I couldn't get Aaron to sleep. Then I just gave in and life was restful.

9) Buying a baby all white things may look angelic before the baby actually arrives but it gets really boring. This time round, I'm going to find out the sex and do my shopping here in Indonesia where baby clothes are quite affordable.

10) Cloth nappies are great for the environment. BUT, when you're short of sleep, specifically, long stretches of sleep, the disposable kind may be the answer. After the first month, we did this during nights.

11) Nail scissors are much easier to use than nail clippers.

12) Don't be shocked to find your 3 month old balding and dropping hair all over his little mattress.

13) Finally, a mother not only needs time to rest but time to get online! It keeps her sane :)

I promised myself that I wouldn't let this blog become a pregnancy blog. I do try to keep things balanced here (baby, life in palembang, life in general etc) but I've been dying to announce this for weeks and now that I have, there are all these queued posts in me. Don't worry, I'll space them out. Different topic coming up tomorrow.