I have a new post up at Home Your Way on, you guessed it, simplifying with a new baby. If you need baby gear for a small space or live in a tiny house with a baby I have some great money and space saving nursery ideas for you.
Our second child arrived in January.
We are in the throes of soft newborn snuggles and middle of the night feedings.
It is a wonderful time, and I’m relishing these early days. The dark circles under my eyes will fade, but these first weeks and the feeling of a new life in my arms will stay with me forever.
Having a new baby in our home is different this time around.
Not only because we are second time parents but also because I have a different outlook on what we really need for a newborn.
With our first son I was a shopping fiend during my pregnancy. I had two diaper bags and a dozen pairs of BabyLegs before I hit the third trimester.
I poured over stroller reviews evening after evening and researched swaddle blankets and cloth diapers until I had the different models and brands memorized.
I was all about the stuff.
But when our baby arrived none of those gadgets and aids gave me more sleep and none of them soothed my child as well as a pair of loving arms.
The spoils from my shopping sprees? Those gathered dust in a closet and cluttered up our home for months… read the rest of this post at Home Your Way for more about living in a tiny house with a baby, baby gear for small spaces and keeping it simple with those newborn years.
Want more ideas about keeping it simple with a baby? Check out these posts:
I only have one son, and trying to convince people before I had him that we didn’t truly need anything was tough. Ultimately, we used a car seat, a baby wrap (storchenweigen), a sheepskin (cosleeping, and we moved it around the house for naps), 12 cloth diapers, 6 outfits, 1 hat, one warm coat/suit, 3 blankets, and a large ‘tote’ bag that could hold the wrap, a change of clothes, extra diapers, and my stuff (book, notebook, pens, wallet/keys/cellphone/sunglasses).
Some of this had to do with technique. When you do elimination communication (where the baby goes into a toilet instead of a diaper), you actually end up with a clean diaper on the baby across 24 hrs, so we changed that like we did underpants. Some days, we would have “off” days with it, and use upwards of 5-6 diapers — so we’d wash them overnight to be ready the next day. We did co-sleeping/bed-sharing and breastfeeding — which doesn’t work for all families, and so those families require more stuff to manage those things.
But overall, we did just fine without many of the things that we are told that babies “need” or that will make our lives easier. What made my life easier was the simplicity of what we had and the usefulness of all of those objects.
What is also interesting is what is still in use: carseat, sheepskin, blankets, and the wrap is less used for it’s original purpose but still used in a lot of other ways (play). He obviously outgrew the clothes and diaper — but he still only has 6 outfits (and 2 pair of shoes — one is rain boots). I still use the handbag because it holds everything that I need for work.
It really created simplicity in my life. It still does, honestly.
Hi there, and congrats on your new son! How exciting! I’m also a Canadian expat living abroad in the back of beyond… I like your blog. I have a few quibbles about this entry, though. I have a little boy, too, and I agree with your general outlook – that is, the baby racket is incredible and you don’t need 90% of it. But… For a diaper bag, we didn’t have any large handbags before our son was born, and we didn’t want to be digging in a deep MEC backpack for nappies, etc, so we bought a diaper bag for 30€ – cheaper than most big handbags, and bloody useful what with all the pockets, etc. Necessary? Of course not. Damn useful and pretty cheap? Yup. And as for a monitor… I didn’t want one, until I realized that even though we are quiet people, we live in a very tall, vey skinny house – and we can’t hear our baby crying from his room on the top floor if we are downstairs. But we couldn’t swallow the baby store hype and prices, so my husband bought a simple home security camera online for 90€ and an iPad app for a few dollars – and a few evenings of hacking later, ta-daa, a monitor which works and helps us a lot. All that to say that, in general, babies don’t need too much, but the circumstances do differ from family to family. I wish you and your family a wonderful start with the new little one!
Warmest congratulations, Rachel, on your new baby! I’m wishing you a wonderfully cozy time together in this extremely special time.
Amy