Sharing the necessities of a new baby growin’ mama is a welcome respite from all of the holiday chaos–this week’s edition is like a little break for me. Let’s get to it:

Surrender to the reality of your new underwear needs. Motherhood is a journey of humility and it officially begins here. Don’t worry–it’s only temporary. These are a low rise brief that stay in place–that becomes very important when you can no longer reach all of the places that you could reach before.

I clearly remember opening a package of these underwear in my eighth month, holding each enormous pair up and laughing heartily while the tears were streaming down my cheeks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not terribly fussy about underwear but there’s something that happens when your new undies are three sizes bigger than your old undies. And prepare yourself: it gets worse when you actually try to put them on and find that the little things that you took for granted before have become an exercise in acrobatics.

This might help:

So, so, so good. This book feeds the spiritual hunger that pregnancy brings and I cannot recommend it enough. There is also a pre-natal yoga video and post-partum yoga video that are incredible. I have the good fortune of being friends with a woman who was trained by Gurmukh and that is a beautiful thing. You can find all three of these must-haves here.

At some point after the baby is born, you are going to want to try and help him learn to sleep (around six months of age). We’re not “cry it out” kind of people (and you should never, never let a newborn “cry it out” because they can literally suffocate on their own breath) so you have to get a little crafty. Be sure to ask for one of these if you are having a baby shower:

It’s a Twilight Turtle and I wish we would have gotten one sooner than we did. We also have his little friend Sleep Sheep which is a pretty handy device too. The key to bedtime is routine and setting that up early is the wisest move you can make. I must admit that it’s pretty relaxing to lie there in the dark listening to the little ocean sounds and checking out constellations on the ceiling. A nice way to end the day.

And just one more thing before I go back to scrambling around like a madwoman:

Babies love these simple wooden rattles. It’s one of the first things that they can hold and they just adore the clicky noise that the bead makes. For months. And they play with these more than anything else for a lot longer than you’d think they would. We are of the philosophy that a few high quality toys are better than a lot of crappy ones and this rattle is at the top of the list for a new baby. It’s more expensive for sure but they really, really love them.

And there are moments when you will pay anything to hand your baby something that will keep them occupied for even a few minutes.

Happy baby growing!