As we all know, I was 90% positive that my little “Clover” was a girl. And most of you (although now, after the fact, sooo many people feel the need to say “I totally thought it was a boy!”) also voted that Parker Baby would be a she!
We were all wrong, and I’m glad to have a son! Neither Zach or I have had the family dynamic that we will be having within our own little family. I was the first born, a girl. And Zach’s older sister, Courtney, was the first born (also a girl obviously). So this whole boy-first thing will be a really fun experience for all of us!
Kye is not only our first born, he’s the first Parker of the next generation. He is also the first Sedgley grandson on my side! Pretty exciting stuff 🙂
4 Generations! They have a Parker saying…”if you put a good bull in the pasture…”
While I expected a girl, I’m glad to have a son. It will be neat that he can protect the younger children and hopefully date our daughters friends, and she can date his! It also takes a lot of pressure off of me. Not that anyone has had pressure on me to have a boy, but I think women all feel like they want to give their husbands a son! Now we have one, so if we have 3 more girls that’s okay!
It’s also good we have a boy b/c it will save us SO much money! All we have to buy for clothes are pants and mix-and-match little shirts. Yeah, boy clothes aren’t half as cute as girl clothes, but they also aren’t half as expensive! Plus no wedding to pay for (although his car insurance will be a killer)!
The toughest thing, which was also my biggest fear if I did have one, about boys is the penis. I mean I’m a chick, I’ve never dealt with that junk before! It’s like foreign territory! The circumcision really broke my heart and was hard to take care of. You had to GLOB vasciline on it every diaper change and be careful not to let any wipes touch it. It was red and had ooze out of it a lot of the time. Thankfully it’s healed now!!! SO much easier! Also the little testicles are strange too. When he poops I have to lift them up to see if any is hiding under there haha
I thought I’d provide a list of essential things to buy for baby. Keep in mind, I have a BOY and I BREASTFEED so those two factors make my list much different from other peoples:
Bassinet: I didn’t plan on buying one but my mom told me that we’d want him to sleep in our room for awhile and a bassinet is great because you can wheel it around. She was right! We love it! He sleeps in it every night and it’s super easy to move when needed 🙂 We bought the cheapest one we could find, you don’t use it very long!
Sleep Sheep: Along with sleep, we couldn’t live without the Sleep Sheep. It’s a stuffed animal that has “white noise” (Kye loves the ocean sound…appropriate seeing he has a surfer name haha). We got the travel one too and it’s great. If he’s fussy at night we use the one in his bassinet and in the car we use the little one!
Receiving Blankets: I’d have 12 or more. We had like 8 to start with and it’s the first thing I ordered more of. We have the swaddleme (see below) but they don’t make them small enough for a newborn so we swaddled him with blankets! Zach found that the double swaddle worked the best and Kye LOVES to be tightly swaddled. We bought Gerber flannel ones and Carter’s flannel ones. The Carter’s are a little bit bigger, but the Gerber’s are more square so I’d get some of each.
SwaddleMe: An awesome invention! Now that he’s 8 lbs we can finally use it! So so so much easier to swaddle him with. We have 2 fleece ones and one cotton one. I use the cotton one during his naps and the fleece ones at night. I’d get at least three total because your baby will pee or poop (especially if a boy) through a diaper and you’ll have to wash them!
Mittens: After the face scratching incident at the hospital, Kye lived in mittens until after his infant picture sitting (17 days old). We kept them on him 24/7, I’m not kidding. It is super hard to find some small enough, I think the smallest ones we had were Gerbers and they have elastic on them which helps them stay on!
White Shirts: The hospital gave us one (and I think we stole the other?) but he also lives in these. They are plain white Gerber shirts and they are great for night time b/c they don’t bother the umbilical cord and they make it easier to change a diaper than the actual onesies. He wears it under his blanket or swaddleme.
Socks: If you don’t have mittens “they” say socks work. Also his feet get colder quicker than any other part so we leave socks on him a lot.
Hats: Again, good luck finding some that fit. At first they all fit him because his huge cone head but now only this REALLY ugly one with a train fits. Courtney gave us all of Colt’s old ones so I have no clue where they are from. Also we made the mistake of leaving it on him all the time (to help his huge head go down) and he got a little hair issue (is it called croup or something?) but it’s already gone just by not having him wear the dang train hat anymore!
Petroleum Jelly: We only had one squeeze tube to begin with then we invested in 3 more and used almost all of them. The squeeze tubes are great because you don’t have to touch the penis, but the jar is good too b/c you can put a HUGE glob on there and at the same time positon it in the “down” position (we figured that out the hard way…he peed through a million diapers b/c his junk was aimed “up”)
Newborn Diapers: We had to buy more, but we wouldn’t have had to buy as many if he hadn’t peed through so many of them. He’s already in ones and started wearing them on Saturday so he was 14 days old…but we used almost 160 newborn diapers. Pampers only!
Changing Pad Covers: We had 2, and had to buy another one. At $15 a pop, that’s a lot to spend on changing pad covers but we wanted them to match the nursery! He has peed a thousand times on us and therefore on the pad (and the wall, and the carpet, and himself) so we could even use more of them but I just do a LOT of laundry
Extra Sheets: Same thing with sheets as the changing pad covers, have extras for the bassinet and pack and play. Basically whatever your child is sleeping in!
Sleep Positioner: Crissy told me about this as well! It’s been great! I know they aren’t 100% approved yet but Kye prefers his side to his back and with the positioner we don’t have to worry about him rolling onto his tummy. It also has a little pillow that elevates his head some which is nice for his gassy issues. (added note later: these are NOT SAFE for babies!!! Have been found to cause SIDS!)
Cotton Balls: I bought some because some list somewhere said to, but I didn’t know how much you actually use them. Both with sponge baths and “real” baths cotton balls are used to clean the face. And we use them all the time in between feedings because this kid will be COVERED in sticky breast milk!
Thick Blanket: You just need one of them, but I’m so glad Mom bought us one while we were in the hospital! It comes in so handy! Receiving blankets aren’t all that warm and it’s nice to have something extra to throw over him if needed…it also works great when I have to pee because I can bunch it up and lay him on the bathroom floor on it! haha
Books: I’d buy both What to expect the first year and The everything baby’s first year book. The first one is like my bible for parenting! I keep it on the little table next to my nursing chair and refer to it for everything. And trust me, it covers everything! It’s how I knew I had mastitis, how we knew how to give the child a bath, and even explained the redness on his chin! However, it’s a bit technical while the second book is more like someone talking to you. It’s very breastfeeding friendly which is nice as well. I would also buy Baby Wise and read it in the last trimester of pregnancy, I just got it last week and it’s a quick read but I wish I’d read it sooner!
Big Items: I felt like we were overloading ourselves with baby gear, but I’m so glad we bought/got all the following items! Playmat (we have the Baby Einstein one and it’s AWESOME. He LOVES it for tummy time), Bouncer (we put it on the kitchen table with us while we are eating and it has a vibration thing he loves), Big Swing (it’s the only baby item that actually belongs sitting out in the house…it matches our living room perfectly and he loves to swing in it. It’s a great alternative when nothing else will work for his naps), Pack and Play (I thought this was dumb but we travel so much and even though it’s bulky we have it set up in the living room right now for him to nap in so he’ll be used to it for trips…we bought a $59 one though, I wouldn’t spend a lot on it), and Travel Swing (I put this up in the bathroom so while I’m getting ready he can swing in it. It has music too which he enjoys and it’s nice b/c we can take it with us when we travel!)
Notebook and Pen: Duh, you have this around your house but if nursing, it’s a must. I put mine on my “nursing table” because I use it to keep track of how many feedings each day, what time they start and end, and which breast I ended on. I do this, not because I’m anal, but because there is so much to keep track of! You have to feed the baby at least 8 times a day, for 15 min on the first breast and as long as the baby will go on the second, and you are supposed to start each feeding on the same breast you ended the last feeding on. Who could remember all that? Writing it down is so so so much easier!
Cloth Diapers: I don’t use cloth diapers but man they work great for breastfeeding! I use them to catch all the leakage, to cup my breast so milk doesn’t get on my hand, and to wipe off his messy face afterward! I’d buy a box of 12 as you will use them like crazy!
Boppy: If you are breastfeeding you probably already have one, but it’s essential. I honestly don’t ever want to breastfeed away from home because I don’t know how I’d do it without the boppy! Buy AT LEAST one extra cover because milk will leak on it and you will want to wash it!
Sleepers and Onesies: Kye lives in either sleepers (with feet and my favorites have fold over “mittens” in the sleeves) or short sleeved onesies. It’s seriously all you need in newborn size. And you only need 6short sleeved onesies (you’ll be doing PLENTY of laundry anyways) and I’d say 5 sleepers
Wee-Wee-Tee-Pee: I don’t know the real name for it, that’s just what I call it. But it goes over the penis to protect you from pee. Right now his penis is a little on the small side so it’s WAY too big. I think Zach uses it but I mostly use baby washcloths (which I have 10,000 too many of) but it’s a good thing to have as if you have a boy YOU WILL BE PEED ON!
Snacks: I messed up on this one. I froze, or bought pre-made, over 30 meals for us. I didn’t consider snacks though and when you first get home from the hospital you will be starving. Especially breastfeeding! I’d stock up on granola bars, yogurt covered raisins, and vanilla waffers (all three have been my snacks of choice). Also get a bunch of bottle waters…I drink probably 5 of them a day easy.
Clothes: I’m so glad we kept the sex a surprise…I am so so so happy that we didn’t buy ANY clothes! Just since he was born we’ve gotten plenty as gifts. I know he won’t be in Newborn stuff long so thankfully a lot of the gifts have been bigger sizes. Why buy clothes when people LOVE to buy them for you? Yeah, we’ve had a couple “pilgrim” things but still we all know I’m a pro at returns 🙂
I have to say, that I bought EVERYTHING on my registry and so far there isn’t anything I’d say not to buy. I know he’s only a couple weeks old but everything we’ve bought for this age, we’ve used. Actually, if I had to do it over again I’d buy more! Now that I know what I need my goal is to not have to run out and buy stuff right after the next baby is born!
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Little boys are the best! I know I’m not biased or anything! Girls get the cuter clothes, but boys have much better toys. That is where all of your money will go! Boys clothes will get more expensive when he gets older. Damian lives in Ralph Lauren shirts and those things add up very quickly.
boy toys are funner, Stevie Joy has the best of both worlds 🙂 She wears super cute girly clothes, but LOVES boy toys. Her favorite toys are her jet planes, and in the church nursery she always bee lines it to the train set. I am going to try to make her as girly as possible, but she seems to like boy things a whole lot!!
I found an app on my iPhone that keeps track of all the feedings, side and time! It was VERY helpful and would even send an alert when it was time to feed again (you can set the duration between feedings). Might want to look into that so you don't have to worry with writing it all down… also good for when you're feeding "out and about".