bbt's Profile

Great idea! And yes, 18 yr old her, will totally think it's lame. But 28 yr old her will think fondly of it and say "remember when we opened my time capsule a few years ago?" or when her child is celebrating their first birthday, then she will totally get it and love you all the more. absolutely love this idea!

wow!

errrr...does that mean i'd have to get a shop-vac to go with it? either way, very cool and if i were to get my DH a father's day present, this might be it!

We use the Kidco magnet locks www.amazon.com/Adhesive-Mount-Magnet-Lock-Starter/dp/B000WX5JXS/ref=pd_bxgy_ba_text_b You can either use adhesive to attach them, or screw them in. They work really well and are unobtrusive. Also, you may want to consider if you have a cupboard or drawer of tupperware, leaving that one unlocked so daughter can access and play with those items. Will help keep her entertained while you're busy in the kitchen.

consider me inspired. may try something after nap time. with the snow drift...we have 3'-4' in some places!

the years that my husband and i have been able to give gifts to each other...he has seriously stashed them (no clue where) due to the stories he's heard of me searching and finding my xmas presents when i was a child. my kids are 3 and 4mo, and i imagine that i will have to take the same precautions next year. for now, i've shipped things directly to my parents where we'll be having xmas and the other items are sitting on my dresser in plain sight.

My husband is a stay-at-home/freelance-from-home dad and has been using our Diaper Dude bag for almost three years. We will probably be switching to a backpack as we've just had a baby and it's difficult to have the diaper bag stocked with the things a toddler/baby/nursing mom all need.

In the Stay-at-home dad's group my husband is a part of...a good portion of the dads use a diaper bag.

I'll just begin with exclaiming how much I love my mother. My mother flew out the day after my first child was due, which ended up being a week before baby decided to be born. Helped me do random things around the house that I didn't have the energy to do. She was planning to stay at least a week after baby was born (agreed to in advance by my husband.) We discussed all the things that she could do that would be most helpful. She took wonderful care of us while I was in labor, making lunch for us, changing music if she could, getting things ready to go out the door. She did an awesome job while were at the hospital (although I still feel bad that she almost fainted because she was standing by my side for so long, she apparently forgot to eat lunch while feeding hubby and i ours). While we were in the hospital, she cleaned my bathroom, cleaned and ironed my curtains!, fresh sheets on our bed, vaccummed, brought baby's first blanket home for the cat to get used to baby smell. Once we got home, we had 1 friend deliver us our Welcome Home meal, stay for 15 minutes, and vanish. BTW...our only friend to deliver a meal. My mom then proceeded to make every meal for the rest of the week...even to the point of spoon feeding me cereal, because we were running late to baby's first doctor's appt and baby decided she needed to be nursed right as we were trying to leave and i was STARVING! and she took soooo many turns at holding and changing baby. (even got up with us in the middle of the night to take a turn at soothing baby.)

I seriosuly hope that my mother will make it in time for Baby #2's birth in August. But i think it also helped that my mom and i had specifically discussed thing she would be responsible for.

this time around...i really hope people think to offer to take my now 2.5 year daughter out to the park, and to bring over special treats for her to help her ease into her new role as big sister. i will probably also have to request a mother or MIL stay overnight in the hospital with me so I don't have to be the sole provider for a baby when i won't even be able to get out of bed (hubby and i are thinking he will have to stay home with the toddler so she isn't completely freaked out.)

It's been interesting now when I visit new parents. We were the first to have ours, so people who did stop by were there for a while which we generally didn't mind. When it got to be too exhausting, I'd tell them that I was tired and needed to take a nap. NOW when I visit friends, I schedule a few days in advance and ask if it's ok to bring dinner by. We try to bring a meal for that evening and a dish they can freeze. So far we haven't been great about being able to help out (I think we offer but no one takes us up on it). Tomorrow i'll be visiting a friend who'll have a 5 day old, dropping off dinner for the evening (unfortunately we have to bring our child as it's hard to get a babysitter, which i know is a no-no) and I'll do my best to discreetly check her kitchen for dishes and trash that we can take care of before we leave. I also make sure to ask how breastfeeing is going and if there is any info I can provide them with or any issues I can help them research if it wasn't something I've encountered. One of the best things a friend did for me was to ask me how breastfeeding was going via email the first few days after Ceri was born and to offer advice and TONS of support.

I'd say the biggest suggestion to prepare for an addition to your home is to purge now. Pretend like you're moving and do a thorough getting rid of stuff you don't need/want/or looked at in years. Then limit the amount of stuff you allow into your home. Look at http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/organizing/good-questions-what-do-we-really-need-046456 for suggestions of things you'll "need" and then only get what you'll need for baby the first few weeks/months. Once baby is mobile is when you can start to worry about cabinet locks and that aspect of child proofing. And you may find a lot of baby stuff you can do without. We're preparing for our second, and the only thing I'd like to get in addition to what we had for our first is a bouncer seat. Other than that, we did quite well without all the other doo-dads. Maybe consider a corner of the living room that can be dedicated to baby (where you can spread a play mat or blanket, eventually have pillows to prop baby up, and a few toys within reach for you to entertain baby.)

Perfect timing! We are preparing to move from our tiny condo to a huge rental apt in two weeks, and the kid will finally get her own bedroom (for a few months before #2 is born and moves into their room) and a play/family room! So I've been working to figure out how to organize their play room. These are great ideas and I'll definitely incorporate some of them!