There’s so many things that you must remember to do right after you find out you’re expecting; Doctors appointments, classes, registries, the endless phone calls. Ugh, those phone calls-insurance, hospital, appointments on appointments. Install the car seat, hospital tour, put lots of baby stuff together, research til your eyes burn, pick a doctor… blahhh blahhhh blahhhh.
Nine months flies by or moves slow as molasses, depends who you ask or when you ask them (hormones and different trimesters, ya know?). When those nine months pass, the “things” you have to do just keep coming. They never stop.
This blog is not about those “things”…you’ll learn those things from a pregnancy book, your doctors, the 20 parenting pages you began to follow or by opening your mail box. This blog is 5 things I did for child in the first year of life that no one tells you about but I feel like they are super important.
I really care what you all have to say and what you want to read about and that’s why I always do polls, questions and message with you spoiled P’s. Often you all ask me if I have any advice for expecting parents. You’ve been heard! Here it is; My advice to my expecting p’s, new p’s and maybe even my seasoned p’s haven’t done these…because…life. Nothin’ but love, friends.
Document your journey
Tuesday night, I shared my little video of clips with my followers that I made documenting my journey from the day I found out I was pregnant until birth. I’d take videos talking to my baby on the way into pregnancy appointments, video ultrasounds, share each pregnancy milestone, etc.
I did this because who hasn’t asked their parents before “what did you crave when you were pregnant with me?”, “How much weight did you gain when you were pregnant with me?”, “Did you know you were having a girl or did you think it was a boy?”….sometimes our parents remember these answers right away, sometimes must think about it and others don’t remember at all. And then the saddest, some of your parents may not be here to ask or know your sweet history together.
My son will have every answer, with all the emotions raw from those moments and hopefully love what he sees and reads.
Everyone’s got their opinions on taking pictures, videos etc. some people think you’re not living in the moment because you’re behind a camera. If you’re doing it 24/7 then yeh, maybe so… but taking a quick snap of special days, regular days or your sleeping babe is for YOU. Doesn’t even have to be for anyone else to see. It doesn’t even have to be video or tons of photos. I spent so many nights filling out my baby book and mama journal. However you do it, keep those special moments for you and your little love.
shop some of my favorite baby memory books and journals: http://www.amazon.com/shop/spoiledmilkclub
Create an Email Account
Before my child was born, I created him an email account. I laid in bed and wrote my son emails. I wrote about my days, what I did, how I felt, etc. I’m actually scared for him to read some of them one day, lol. So many emotions, lol. I don’t write emails as often as I did like when I was pregnant but I would say I send an email every month or two.
His email address was given to his grandparents and other family members. I don’t know if or when they email him because it is not my account. I don’t ever intend on going into that email address; those are for him. If one day he doesn’t have some of his family members with him anymore, he will open up his email account that I made for him and read sweet messages from his family who loves him.
Open a Bank Account
We opened our son his own bank account in the first year he was born because we definitely changed our priorities, lifestyle and spending quite a bit when he was born. My husband and I always have had the same outlook on raising kids. We knew we didn’t want our kid to have an abundance of things or receive gifts for no reason. It’s not our responsibility to make sure our son gets whatever he wants. It’s our responsibility to make sure he has what he will need for the future. On both sides of our family, in his first year, family members gifted money for baptism, birthday and Christmas. That money went straight into his bank account. Before Pano even turned one, he had some pretty good savings. Thanks fam. Pano, you owe me a coffee every once in a while when you’re older.
Create a plan for the future
I opened up the doors to all sorts of new financial knowledge. I thought if I paid my bills, saved some money and owned a couple things to my name I was adulting. Wellllll, I was wrong. Luckily, one of my closest friends is a financial advisor and casually talked to my hubby and I about our family’s future and when we didn’t really have any sort of plan for the future he offered to sit down with us. At first, I didn’t really think I would do this but didn’t want to be rude or disregard his kind offer so we met with no obligation, no strings, just an hour of our time. I didn’t know that he was going to change our lives for the best financially and make a plan for our future that was crystal clear. Maybe you’re like me, I’ll break down it down in a financial planning for dummies nutshell. You sit down with the advisor, tell the truth when they ask you all sorts of questions about your income, current lifestyle, where you want to be in the future and then boom, they just make a recipe for a big bright future of security. A parents dream. They show you everything with your own numbers, what you have and where you can be. There’s no amount of income too little when it comes to making a plan. You will clean up your current finances, make a savings plan that grows, college savings for your littles and/or set up plans incase of an unfortunate turn of events in yours or your spouses health. Now, I’m legit adulting, my friends and it feels so good. A huge weight has lifted off our shoulders.
For more professional information read more about it: http://www.northwesternmutual.com
If you’re in Illinois email Daniel.grance@nm.com to answer any questions or set up your own appointment today.
Include Grandparents in everything
Whatever your relationship is with your parents and/or inlaws, let your babe know and love their grandparents. I may take this to another level (lol) but having grandparents be a part of our child’s life is so important to us. My husband unfortunately lost his mom before ever becoming a grandparent. He often talks about how great she would have been, how much she would have loved our son and how much he wishes she was a part of his life on Earth. This is a constant reminder how valuable it is to have the grandparents who are here with us in our child’s life. From the day I found out I was having a baby, I included our parents in appointment updates, invited them to gender reveal appointment, his birth and always have an open door for them since he’s been here. Again, maybe a little excessive but they mean so much to us and I know I won’t get to have them with me forever. A relationship between children and their grandparents are like no other. Who else is going to love your kid the way you do? Grand parents! Some have too many opinions, some don’t have boundaries, some don’t ever come when you invite them, some don’t leave….and so on and so on. Suck it up and keep welcoming them to be a part of their lives. You won’t ever regret that when you see this magical relationship continue to grow.
Thanks for reading! Next up (by your request) we are talking about LOVE if you have things you specifically want to hear about in the love department email me at spoiledmilkclub@gmail.com or DM me on the ‘gram. xo
Find joy in all of your journey
