I struggle to figure out what people want from me. Feeding into this problem, I try to keep my head down and focused, wanting to keep my life as uncomplicated as possible. The reality: life is complicated, and having a baby isn’t the most obvious way to keep one’s life uncomplicated—or to avoid anticipating someone else’s needs J I’m trying to be more open to change, trying to keep taking risks. And, I know with preparation, I have a shot of simplifying my life a bit.
There are 2 transitions that concern me the most: bringing Boop home to take care of her on my own and having to leave Boop with strangers at daycare. One thing at a time: I’m trying to figure out what to do with a newborn. I finally got a copy of The Happiest Baby on the Block. I’m about a 3rd of the way through it. The book focuses on the 1st 3 months of a baby’s life. Karp’s central idea is that babies really need about 3 more months in the womb: that babies really aren’t prepared for life outside at 9 months. And the best way to soothe a baby 0-3 months old is to make her environs as close to the womb as possible: that the intervention needs to be more vigorous than new parents expect, particularly for babies with ‘colic’.
I’ve got my swaddling wraps all washed and ready. I’m good at the swinging, although I don’t have much endurance yet, and have managed to soothe a few agitated newborns that way. I have a few pacifiers, but I will probably need to get a few more. A couple of other things I’ve been thinking about are a white noise machine and a baby sling. Although the Baby Bjorn will be great and supportive to carry Boop around, it won’t work too well with a swaddling wrap, and I don’t see myself being able to carry Boop all of the time. So, I’m trying to figure out how to get the wraps to work, with all of the flaps and velcro. It wasn’t this complicated when I was a little girl; I was swaddling my baby dolls with blankets at about age 3 or 4.
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