Eating Crow

It's no surprise that motherhood has changed me. I'm a different person than I was 3 years ago, giving up party scenes for diaper changes, thinking about vaccinations (in a good way) rather than Carribean Vacations....I like to think that I'm much more patient now, but also much more crunchy about life choices reflecting on the boys. Its a fine line to walk you know, being me, while still being momma, and recognizing the strengths in each.

Before I had Collin I posted about all of the baby items that were ridiculously unwarranted in a parent's repertoire of "stuff". Luckily most of those items I wrote about are still ridiculous. Baby Toupees. Still a stupid idea. But there are a few things that I found myself investing in or adding to our arsenal of gizmos to make baby happy. So here I am, fessing up, eating a bit of crow.
Hello humility.

Our life continued past that post (believe it or not) and enter: the babies. (well, I call them babies, but more accurately, toddler and infant). All skills related to parenting established in any other environment besides parenting of your own children go out the window. Its true. Its almost like the Universe intended everyone to start the parenting gig with a clean slate, so it wipes our brains clean of all previously established parenting-related skills. A-la-parenting-tabula-rasa.

So, as we learned how to be parent to Collin we found ourselves looking for ways to make life easier. I've got a severe case of parenting OCD, so pretty much anything that can soothe my rational (read: over the top and ridiculous) concerns was a worthy purchase. Enter the video monitor. Whats that you say, video monitors are a bit over the top in the world of monitors? Maybe true for you, but not for us. Quite possibly its the best investment we made for the kiddos. When Collin was about 5 months old we brought home this:

Suddenly I was able to see exactly what Collin was doing as he was napping or sleeping through the night. I could hear when his noises were jut noises in the night vs when he really needed our attention. It was fantastically amazing. And so, I started mixing up my crow pie.

A year or so passed, we stuck to our guns. We could raise Collin without crazy, self-indulgent amenities. It could be done.

But then I got pregnant again, and life was about making things easier. Really, really, really much easier. Having two babies meant for the first two months our goals for the day revolved around basic needs: is everyone dressed? hooray! Is everyone fed? Yippee!! Did naps occur on time? Bonus points! That was pretty much the gist of it. Parenting is tough at first, and so you do everything you can to ease the anguish and concern that you are doing your very best to make life perfect for your kids.

And so, Owen was born in the dead of winter. We brought him home and soon after had to change a diaper. Now, to preface this occurrence you should know our house is old, it was built in the 50's and the outer walls leak like a sieve. Its no joke. So, back to the changing table. There we were changing Owen, and as with both our boys he screamed bloody murder when we took his diaper off. I grabbed a wipe and noticed it was pretty cold, attributed to being on the changing table next to the heat-leaking walls. I used it, Owen screamed horribly and I quickly wrapped him up in a warm blanket to compensate. But before the change was finished I knew we were going to need to make some changes. It was the next day that I noticed the actual ice crystals (no, that is not a misprint, we live in Minnesota for goodness sakes!) in the wipes container and on the wall by the window. It was ridiculous. Ridiculously cold that is.

So, enter the wipes warmer. I totally made fun of the wipes warmer, and don't get me wrong it doesn't solve all changing problems, Owen still hates getting his diaper changed, but at least its not actual ice on his little bum. I mean can you imagine. Go ahead and take an ice cube with you the next time you head to the loo, see what I mean. And so, I added a few more birds to my crow pie.

Our indulgences didn't end there though. Did I mention I'm an OCD mom? SEVERE OCD, folks. I'm constantly in their faces seeing if they are breathing, even Collin, who is now nearly 2, gets watched (via the video monitor) like a hawk for breathing. I know he's fine. Its just me being me. So, when the new Angelcare monitors came out I seriously considered buying one. My brain said: its a waste of money, you already have a video monitor and it won't protect against SIDS, and there is no research on it, and.... but my mommy brain said: Peace of mind. Know he is breathing without getting up. Relax a little. Don't run on empty because you are up all night making sure he's breathing.
So, mommy brain won.
We have an Angelcare monitor.

But, seriously, I LOVE this thing. It's so simple, but really does give me a TON of peace of mind. Its simply a device that goes under a mattress and senses if the baby is breathing. You calibrate it to your baby's movements and if it doesn't sense movement for 20 seconds an alarm goes off. It can detect the movement made simply by breathing. It also has a little light that blinks every time it senses movement, so every 2 seconds or it blinks. I love sitting up in my bed seeing it blinking and being able to resist going over the bassinet to see if Owen is breathing fine. That peace of mind alone is worth every little penny.

Finally, we had one last splurge (okay, maybe not last) but it completes this post at least. With two babies I knew I'd need a double stroller and I wanted it to not be 12 feet long, or 6 feet across. I also wanted to be able to use it by myself and I wanted it to do its job- no hassle strolling. Being the frugal family we are I wasn't initially interested in spending a ton of money on a stroller. There are so many models that aren't expensive, and so many better ways to spend money (or so I thought). So, while at the state fair last year we scoped out strollers (in case you are wondering the state fair is the PERFECT place to scope out strollers. They are EVERYWHERE). I saw a handful of Phil and Teds stacked stroller and liked the compact-ness and utility for a toddler and infant. And so, as our final act of swallowing a large helping of crow pie we got the Phil and Teds Vibe stroller (thanks to Drew's parents very generous Christmas gift). This was a hard purchase to make because it costs nearly $800.00 when all is said and done. Ridiculous. I know.

But this thing is nothing short of AMAZING. It walks like a dream. It has an adapter for the "bucket" infant car seat that goes on top, so right now Collin rides in the jump seat below and Owen stays in his bucket on top. Eventually they'll both ride like the picture shows. To top it off, I can set it up in like 10 seconds, and fold it down by myself. It was expensive, a bit extravagant, probably, but worth EVERY PENNY. I LOVE it.
So, its true, we will practice some humility and I'll keep my mouth shut in the future about crazy baby purchases.
Pass the whipped topping, my pie needs it.