Our first Guest Mom is Sarah Farrar debuting the series on the blog!
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Provided by Sarah Farrar |
Baby’s Full Name & Birth Date (explain name if it has significance): Ellie Ryan Farrar- no real significance. I knew for years that if I had a girl it was going to be Ellie and Ryan is Mike’s middle name. We thought it just “sounded cute”.
DOB - May 23, 2014
After the excitement wore off, how prepared did
you feel to have a baby? Haha! I don’t think I ever
felt prepared. I secretly panicked up
until the day she was born even though the room was ready and I had all the
“stuff” I needed. I had a planned
C-section so that last week I was very uncomfortable and was beyond ready for
her to be here but definitely never ever felt prepared.
One word to describe my pregnancy is Easy.
Now that I am a mom, I wish someone would have
told me postpartum is WAY harder than you will ever
expect. Juggling the f*cked up hormonal
fluctuations was off the charts the hardest part for me and was something I
never thought about during my pregnancy.
I was so nervous about not getting sleep and that was never the hardest
thing. Also, don’t google anything
because it will only freak you out more (even during the pregnancy) and don’t
overanalyze feedings, weight, etc. because it adds unnecessary stress and only
the bad is up on the internet.
What items (beauty, food, medicine) did you
swear by during pregnancy? Beauty- stretch mark cream (DON”T FORGET THE ASS)! Food- I never really craved or relied on
anything that I can remember except I tried to drink as much water as humanly
possible. Medicine- the only thing I
ever took was a prenatal (and still do to this day) and Unisom to sleep and
help with nausea.
Favorite baby book or magazine (if you read
them). “What to Expect” I believe was the only thing I actually
read (and by read I mean skimmed certain sections).
Maternity clothes tips? Don’t
go overboard because it goes really quickly.
I lived in yoga pants, slouchy tunics and flats. I was only big during the late winter, early
spring. I bought a nice pair of black
pants for work and was lucky to borrow a pair of jeans from a friend. Target actually has really cute things; basic
shirts and pants and I did buy a few of the wrap dresses. There are those
things (and I’m not sure what they are called) but it’s the elastic band to go
over the top of your pants and stomach? Anyways, I didn’t use them like they
were supposed to but my bellybutton popped out really early and I found it
gross so I used that band around my waist to cover up the bellybutton issue. I also did this ghetto thing during the
awkward 2nd trimester before I got big enough to need maternity
pants to where I wrapped an elastic hair tie through the button of my pants to
expand them without having to spend money on the real maternity pants. That’s embarrassing but it saved me some
money in the long run J My feet never grew or got swollen so I can’t comment on the
shoe issue some have but I only wore heels occasionally.
What was
the best advice you received that helped you in motherhood? The best advice I got
I didn’t listen to and HIGHLY regret it and will definitely take it to heart
next time around. Accept help when it is
offered and sleep when the baby sleeps.
This is such basic boring advice that everyone will give you but I
didn’t listen or accept help (except for the first 2 days after I got home
because of the C-section) and it caused a lot of unneeded exhaustion. People that offer to help WANT to help you
out; they aren’t just doing it to be nice.
I had the hardest time handing Ellie off on someone else because in my
head I didn’t want her to be a burden to anyone but me (I even thought this
crazy towards Mike because I was on maternity leave and he didn’t take any time
off work so I felt like he should sleep the whole night. I felt bad when he got awoken by Ellie that it
would frustrate me more than I should have ever let it). It probably sounds
stupid but I never accepted or asked for help which caused some MAJOR
meltdowns. Also, sleeping when the baby
sleeps is hard because all I wanted to do was clean or organize and act like
supermom but those few hours or minutes of sleep are needed. Cleaning the floors and windows can wait!
How did you decide the items from which you
registered (research, word of mouth, random)?
I asked a few friends and then found a complete
list of items on a blog that were broken down by category I believe and just
registered for everything.
Where did you register? Target, Itty Bitty
Bella and Babies R Us…a lot of friends registered at Buy Buy Baby but I didn’t,
I think they have a great return policy though.
What
is your stroller? Do you like it? I just bought the Chicco KeyFit Caddy Stroller Frame to save
money and really enjoyed it because it took up little space and was a WHOLE lot
lighter than the full travel system. The
travel systems are expensive and you really only use them for a few months
because as soon as they sit up you will want an umbrella stroller or jogging
stroller. We bought a cheap umbrella
stroller that we take everywhere these days and a jogging stroller on
Craigslist that Mike only uses when he runs with her.
What
is your car seat? Do you like it? Chicco KeyFit 30, love it!
A lot lighter than Graco and it also isn’t as long as the Graco so it
fits in the car easier to where I don’t have to adjust the seats and be
uncomfortable. I know a lot of people
have Britax but I believe it was just as safe and more expensive so we stuck
with the Chicco.
Isn’t
a baby bottle a baby bottle or are some better than others? I didn’t really use
bottles till 6 months or later but I think all that matters are the nipples
because Ellie was particular. I didn’t
know how many different kinds and sizes of bottle nipples there were until I
really looked and bought one of everything.
Dr. Brown is what I ended up using but I HATED the amount of parts there
were to them.
Favorite
diapers? What the heck is a diaper pail? I use any and every
kind of diaper, Ellie didn’t break out in a rash like some babies do so I used
anything as long as it was the right size.
If you register for diapers just asked for Huggies and Pampers and
multiple sizes because the small sizes go quick. I ended up with a whole box for size 1 that I
ended up giving away to a neighbor. I
did use a diaper pail and really like it even though you do have to buy the
refills (although I buy the generic refills to save money). Some people say that a pail isn’t needed
because you can just throw the stinky diapers in the trash outside but let’s face
it EVERY DIAPER IS STINKY and I was too lazy to go outside to throw every
diaper away and they really do mask the smell in my opinion.
Baby
monitors are expensive. What did you choose and why? We got as a gift the
Motorola Video monitor. It was the
middle priced one and there are still things on it that we don’t use. We actually don’t use the monitor at home
anymore since the nursery is right next to our master so the monitor stays at
my parents. We actually only used the
monitor for a few months till I realized that we didn’t need it and it was
making me more anxious than anything.
Where
did you get your diaper bag? What is in it? My mom got me my
diaper bag and I liked the material because it was light but there was really
nothing much to it. It was gray and
white and I couldn’t even tell you the brand name. I stopped using a diaper bag around 1 year
and just throw a few things in my actual purse but I would recommend getting
something that you like…I will next time around. I don’t know much about the different brands
but there are a lot of cute/nice ones at Itty Bitty Bella that I would
recommend looking at.
Best
place to buy baby clothes? Target, Old Navy and Gap were my go too because they held up
and weren’t expensive and REALLY cute.
Infant clothes go so fast they may only wear it once so I suggest not
going overboard at first. Now that she
is older and I can predict her size better I have a few nice things…Itty Bitty
Bella, Matilda Jane (online) and Cotton Tails have gotten a good bit of my
money these days J
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Provided by Sarah Farrar |
Nursery
theme? Since
we didn’t find out the sex we went gender neutral with gray, white, green and
orange…kind of jungle themed. Since I
took the picture attached…we have rearranged to make things easier and have
added some stuff to the walls.
What do you wish you had registered for? Hands down, breast
milk storage accessories/bags. I ran
through those things like crazy and the money added up over time. Extra
bottles/nipples would have been nice but Ellie didn’t really take from a bottle
until 6 months and she was really picky about the bottle nipple so stocking up
at showers might have been a waste because I didn’t know what she would take. I will say though that you can never have
enough bottles because cleaning them is a b*itch if you have to do it after
every feeding. Also, footed
onesies. I really didn’t get many
because Ellie was born in the summer but always found myself at Target buying a
few more. I liked the footed ones and
not the ones with elastic at the bottom that are open. Personal preference but you will quickly find
out which items you like over others.
What did you think you would need, but it turns
out you do not? You
will always get a lot of blankets and burp clothes and I probably just rotated
a good 5-6 and have 2 drawers filled with untouched stuff like that. There are a lot of items that aren’t
necessary but I still used them to make life easier; such as the diaper pail,
the swing and the bouncer. You can
probably get away with just one but I did use both. One thing that I was really excited about
that I made sure I had but never once used was the Moby Wrap. I used the Ergo Baby instead and the Moby
wraps aren’t cheap. You won’t use a high
chair for a while so I wouldn’t stress about getting one of these right
away. So that’s one thing I wish I had
the money back on. People stress a lot
about the nursery being complete which is nice but if your bedding for the crib
isn’t in don’t stress because the baby will probably be in your room in a
sleeper/pack-n-play for a few weeks anyways and you might not step foot in the
nursery for a few weeks J I’m sure there are a ton of things I didn’t use but I can’t
think at the moment. I used everything
possible to make life easier so the only gifts I returned were blankets and
duplicates of stuff.
Is your baby on a schedule? Was that hard? Yes, this was the one
thing I worked at from day 1 because if she wasn’t on a predictable schedule I
would have been much more of a mess than I was.
I’m not sure when she started to actually develop the schedule (maybe
month 2) but I highly recommend starting day 1 working on a schedule that works
for you (every baby is different and every mom’s schedule is different so the
online schedules that they recommend are just a guide to go by); although you
have to alter the schedule a lot the older and older the baby gets. I didn’t find this too difficult but there
are days that are horribly off, which was hard for my OCD!
Be honest. When did you start getting sleep
again? Ellie
started sleeping through the night on her 4 month birthday. I probably could have gotten her to start
sleeping earlier but with breastfeeding I was nervous she wasn’t getting enough
milk because I couldn’t tell how much she was getting that every time she woke
up at night I fed her. I stopped doing
this right at 4 months when the doctor told me she didn’t need to eat during
the night, so it took 1 night of her “crying it out” till she started sleeping
straight through. Ellie was very easy
because most people I know didn’t get this till 6-9 months…just goes to show
everyone’s different. If I’m honest
though I still wake up a few times at night I guess just out of a nervous
habit; so honestly I probably get a full good night’s sleep only a few times a
week J
How did motherhood change you the most? I like to think I
have more patience these days. I
realized what really matters in life and have never been sappier. It’s true when they say you never knew you
could love something so much that you will do ANYTHING for them. I’ve also never been so scared in my entire
life for someone’s future.
What is your favorite part of being a mom? Watching her learn
something new every day. Hearing her
yell my name and give me hugs and kisses because it just reassures you that you
are doing a great job and being the best parent you can even though some days
you feel like a failure.
What is the hardest part? Emotions. I cry all the time, mostly over nothing. Some because Ellie is sad, some because I’m
sad and frustrated and most of the time for no reason or I just look over and
realize how cute and what a miracle she is.
(Like I said, I’m way s
appier these days).
People seem to have opinions about everything
related to parenting. How do you deal with that? With social media and
closed minded blogs this can be the most frustrating thing, especially when it
comes to breastfeeding your child. I let
certain things annoy me for a bit but I quickly learned to tune everything out
and listen to your gut and know that you are doing the best thing for you and
your child.
Listen, I don't know about you guys, but I learned a ton through this Q + A. Knowing Sarah and having met sweet Ellie in person, they give me so much confidence about this journey ahead of me. My favorite thing about this is the idea of getting more patience and not sweating the small stuff. Also, stretch mark cream on the ass - got it! What a wonderful and honest account of motherhood.
I have reached out to several ladies to contribute, but if you would like to answer the questionnaire, do not hesitate to reach out to me at jrssell1@me.com or on Chic Memphis' Facebook Page.
Thank you SO much to Sarah Farrar and Ellie for being a part of the first Mom Q+A of the series! I am thankful for you both!
So, readers, what parts resonate with you?
XoXo, Jordan
Chic Memphis
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