Viva la Feminista

wow...16 weeks of me giving y'all suggestions on things to buy mamas and babies? I can't believe I came up with all those suggestions. For reals. Alas, this is my last regular suggestion for what to buy. If you've been reading regularly I've gotten pretty busy with other blogging & writing gigs, that something had to give. I hope that I've given you enough guidance that you can walk into the baby aisle and think, "What would V think? Is this really necessary?" Don't fret, if I get hit by inspiration, I'll post another suggestion. So my last suggestion for something that a mom and her baby will NEED is a gift certificate for dinner. And yes, it really should be for some place that delivers. This gift idea came from a couple who did this for us. After our daughter was born, they called us up and asked us what night we wanted dinner delivered and from where. Perhaps you know that your BFF loves Thai from that place down the street or you know she ...

Someone will tell you that you need some gadget that wraps your plastic disposable diaper in plastic thus mummifying your lil one's poop for eternity. Don't do it. Now don't get me wrong. We did the disposable diaper...Pampers to be exact. But we didn't mummify our daughter's diapers either. We used a regular garbage can just like the one pictured and a can of Lysol spray. And for the most part, it worked. There were times when the diaper needed an immediate trip to the alley, but not too often. So you can do it! And if you're a gift giver, put the money towards something else. :) And we do have some friends who decided to not do the disposable route with, I think, Fuzzi Bunz . They love it! Feel free to leave your suggestions for cloth diapers in the comments. Technorati tags: What to Buy Wednesday , motherhood , parenthood , gift ============== Don't forget that VLF is participating in the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge . We already have one class funded, ...

In order to focus on the economy, What to Buy Wednesday has been suspended. For this week, Pregnant-Americans are on their own. Use your head, not the fear!

Yup, those baby monitors are a must have. I don't think it matters if you get sound only or video, just get one. As much as your logical mind might think you don't need one, once that baby is home, you will find that you have a monitor growing from your hand. I didn't watch "Friends" religiously but I recall that after Rachel had her baby that people were critical that after a few episodes the baby disappeared. Instead Rachel just walked around with a baby monitor in hand. I can only assume that Rachel's baby was a wonderful baby who actually slept without someone holding her. Unlike my daughter. But seriously, you want that monitor in hand once you put the baby down so you can relax a bit, do the dishes, or watch "Project Runway" without straining to hear the rustle of the baby. Plus if you're like most young parents if you DON'T hear anything you run to the room to check on the lil one. I live in a multi-unit building, so I actually ended u...

I know what you're thinking, the robe is for the hospital. Well, yes, it is. If all goes well and a woman gives birth vaginally, she might only be in the hospital 2 nights. I rushed things (surprise!) and only spent one night. So having a nice robe is good to have when shuffling around the maternity ward and greeting loved ones. BUT...once you get home you're gonna be spending a lot of time in that robe too. For one, the first week or two you might not get out of your robe until lunchtime. And even after you get into a routine, you still might want to stay in your robe...Yes, after the kid arrives, you might find that comfy desire to stay in your robe, drink your tea or coffee, and enjoy those precious few minutes before everyone else wakes up. Because you'll be spending some time in your robe, I suggest you get two. At least. And seriously, what is better than a nice warm fluffy robe straight from the dryer? Technorati tags: What to Buy Wednesday , motherhood , parenthood ...

Have you ever heard someone say that kids have more fun with the box than with the toy that came inside? It's true. I don't mean for you to get your newborn nothing but boxes, but just a warning that you don't need to buy a zillion toys. See I use to collect stuffed animals. It started out with a few things, then Poohbears, and then carnival winnings. Thus I had a huge collection of stuffed animals when my daughter was born so she didn't need too many additional ones...but she still got them. While she does play with some of her toys, stuffed animals, and board games, I wouldn't even say half...ok, maybe half if we took my stuffed animals out of the picture. Her room is full of toys that she doesn't play with and I honestly don't have the strength to toss most of them...even Happy Meal toys. So take it from me and go easy on the toys. Not only do I not believe that any toy on the market is going to make your kid get into Harvard, but the money you save on to...

Here me now, believe me later... DO NOT BUY A DIAPER BAG FOR ANYONE BUT YOURSELF! The only person to pick out a diaper bag should be the person using it. Since most women do the caregiving in this egalitarian world, let's talk about that first. Mamas-to-be...First, do you think you're going to carry around that cute purse AND a diaper bag? You can try, but I'll bet that you'll get tired of it and start throwing your wallet, keys, and other stuff in with the rattle, wipes, and butt cream. Make sure that the diaper bag has a section FOR YOU. I had a pretty simple bag, two open sections plus a middle zippered section that held the changing pad. Come to think of it, it was pretty much like my work bag now, except in the middle is now my laptop. Hmmm.... Anywho, when out shopping for a bag, empty your purse essentials in there and then see if you have enough room for baby stuff. Yeah, put your stuff in there first. Selfish? Maybe, but you're gonna be pissed if you're...

I know I said I would be positive in this series, so I am going to say that I am POSITIVE that buying your youngling edu-tainment toys will not guarantee them a ticket to Harvard. Instead I urge you to focus on buying your future student books. Plain old books. Buy them a few of your favorites and some new ones for that bookcase you are setting up in the nursery. Start reading now and never stop reading to your kids. Parenting has a wonderful article on giftedness (h/t Kim ) that not just says that gifted kids are rare, but that we can't make them with drills, toys, and extra work: "Gifted" has become one of the most tossed-about words in the parenting lexicon. Unfortunately -- sorry, but let's get this out of the way right up front -- it's also one of the most misused. The vast majority of children are not gifted. Only 2 to 5 percent of kids fit the bill, by various estimates. Of those, only one in 100 is considered highly gifted. Prodigies (those wunderkinds who...

Well d'uh....of course you buy baby clothes! What I want to stress is to focus buying baby clothes that aren't size 0-3 months. And even skimp on the 3-6 months ones too. Why? Because people like to buy itty bitty tiny baby clothes, socks, and shoes. People also love to gift you baby blankets, so don't go over board like we did. It's also hard to believe when you're pregnant, but those first few months go by so fast and they grow so fast, well, before you know it, they are in the next size. Of course it's a rare bird (hint, hint friends & family of pregnant woman!) who buys an outfit for the lil one that is larger than six months. So...if your budget is tight, focus on the larger sized items. Heck, you can always run out and grab a new pack of onesies. Technorati tags: What to Buy Wednesday , motherhood , parenthood , gift

When I was pregnant I got two books, What to Expect When You Are Expecting and The Hipmama Survival Guide . While I hated WTE, I loved Hipmama, but was still unfulfilled. Both are such extremes and apparently I am dead in the center, ok left of center, but still. Now Our Bodies Ourselves Pregnancy and Birth is more my pace. I'll admit that I did not read each word in this book, but I feel that I did my due diligence. What OBOS's pregnancy book is is a book that combines the best of hipmama granola with honest medical advise. Yes, OBOS spends a lot of time talking about midwives and what an optimal birth would look like, but I never got the feeling that it was guilting me into having the "perfect" birth. The tone is set at the very beginning on page 9: When used appropriately, maternity care inerventions such as artifical inductions or labor, episiotomies, epidurals, and cesarean sections can improve health outcomes and even save lives. Yet far too often, these inter...

So you're pregnant. Aren't you seriously thirsty now? Since I'm not a medical professional all I can offer is my personal experience. But I have never been more thirsty than when I was pregnant. It's one of the Goddess' evil tricks she plays on us. The more pregnant we get, the thirstier we are, and the smaller our bladder gets. Oh, and then she throws in fluid retention ...which is ironically helped by MORE WATER. I'm going to ask you to be green and NOT buy water bottles. Get a reusable one! Of course with the uncertainty about PBA plastic bottles , it may be hard to find one that you feel safe with. I want to error on the side of safety...That said, I'm still toting around my cancer bottle. I might error, but I'm a lazy person sometimes. But back to YOU! The Center for the New American Dream has a great marketplace where you can investigate which PBA-free bottle is for you. Disclaimer: The executive director for CNAD is also a Progressive Women's...

Now that title should get me some real traffic from the search engines! haha... Seriously, I can't tell you which nipple, bottle, or pacifier to buy for your lil one. I say that because I really feel that each baby has its own preference. To illustrate this, let me tell you a story... Five years ago I was home on maternity leave and poking at my belly. "Hurry up baby! We're wasting precious maternity leave time!" At the same time I was tidying up, getting all the bottles set, onesies washed, etc. The bottles were all cute Winnie the Pooh bottles. While I knew I was going to breast feed, I also knew that the new Papa was going to do bottle duty. What I didn't plan on was that missy was going to be picky about her bottle nipple AND her pacifier. I think that we went thru at least 3-4 different bottles before landing on the Avent nipple. Which let me tell ya really sucked because I had bought the Medela breast pump. If you don't know, the breast pumps FIT the bot...

The item I miss using the most from when my daughter was a baby is the baby sling & the Bjorn. I miss having her so close to me; I miss her being small enough to fit into the darn things! Now baby slings are associated with granola moms or attachment parenting. Sure, they strap their babies to them, but I have to tell you, you are going to want to have that carrier, especially if the baby comes during nice weather (spring – fall). I put my daughter in the Bjorn to take a walk, to walk around the apartment to get her to sleep, and well anytime I wanted to use both my hands, I put her in there. My daughter certainly lived up to the theory that babies like to be close to you. Heck, she's almost five and she still wants to be next to us. I also used a wrap sling. It wasn't as easy to use as the Bjorn, but I'm sure that was because I didn't use it enough to learn all the tricks. In the end, the carrier was quite a life saver. So send your friend this perfect gift. Techno...

Maternity clothes. Some women loathe the time when it's time to admit that those jeans just ain't gonna button. I gotta tell ya that maternity clothes have gotten so cute that I often find myself in the middle of the Target maternity wear section without thinking. Or rather thinking "Oh...cute shirt dress! What size...oh...maternity!" Thus buying maternity clothes for your preggers BFF or partner is a tricky thing. I highly suggest gift cards...but NOT to maternity specialty stores like Motherhood Maternity. When I was growing up, the MM was at the start of the mall. I passed it for 15 years and my mom use to note that "when you're married & get pregnant, I'll take you here." Instead she was living in North Carolina and we hit the mega-MM at the mall. She bought a few hundred dollars of clothes for me because she knew (ironically) that she wouldn't be able to buy me more clothes for a while AND she knew oh so well, that I'd wait until the...

Soon after I got pregnant, Cinnamon mentioned to me that one of her most cherished items is a journal that her mom kept while she was pregnant with Cinnamon. I kept both a pen & paper journal and a blog during my pregnancy. Of course now that the daughter is here, I do more blogging about her than writing...and in the last six months, I've hardly blogged about her too! But this week's suggestion for a possibly low-cost gift for the pregnant woman in your life is a simple blank book and pen. Sure, go ahead and spend more on a diary or even a diary for moms as well as a nice pen instead of a regular ball-point pen. Write a short note to her on a sheet of paper or even inside the journal. Perhaps she will open up to her child-to-be in those blank sheets. Go ahead and talk about the ups and downs of the pregnancy, I sure did. If something happens to me before my daughter gets her hands on it, she's gonna need some therapy. I wrote very honestly about my mother's illness...

When I got pregnant a good friend who was about six months ahead of me said, "You have to get a body pillow." I said, "Sure..." and filed it in the back of my head. By the time she had her daughter, I was just at the end of my first trimester and starting to actually FEEL pregnant. That, "OMG, I feel an extra few pounds heavy...And I can't roll on my belly!" Yes, medical folks will tell you that you do need to sleep on your side and for someone who is a belly sleeper, that's a HUGE adjustment. So when my husband & I went to visit the new lil baby, I said a world of YES to her offer to borrow the body pillow. This was after a few weeks of us looking for one at a reasonable price. Of course now you can buy one at Target for $18 ($9 for the pillow, $9 for the cover) and I have it! You can spend more on one and I bet they feel great...seriously, a body pillow is freaking heaven, thus a Tempur-Pedic one must be heaven with fat-free cream cheese fr...

OK, OK...some of you just rolled your eyes at my suggestion for this week. But trust me, if you are a friend or partner to a pregnant woman, she will love you for gifting her with a prenatal massage and/or prenatal yoga classes. If you are in Chicago, I highly recommend Corrine Peterson . She use to run the prenatal classes at Sweet Pea's Studio (studio RIP, massages still available) and that's where I met her when I was preggers. First, the yoga -- In Corrine's prenatal yoga, which I started taking maybe in my 3rd month, I learned so much about what my body was going thru it was scary. You'd think that a women's health activist would know, but ya just don't know. Class included not just learning yoga (I've never taken a yoga class without being pregnant...I know, I really should.), but we spent a few minutes in each class listening to Corrine talk about the physical changes as well as sharing some of our thoughts, fears, and questions. It was part Sweet Pe...

One of the first gifts we ever got was this book, Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age 5 . For the first few years of our daughter's life this was our bible. If she sneezed, coughed, or had a slight fever we ran for the book and tried to diagnose our problem. There's still a business card stuck in the section on spitting up. Oh, did we have issues with spitting up. Let's see, there had to have been at least 3 times we came home to find our daughter had spit up an entire bottle on the babysitter (aka my younger sister or Cinnamon). It was seriously a life saver and I don't know why pediatricians don't just hand this out like candy because it saved us from calling many a time. OMG, I just realized that she's almost outgrown this book. ACK! And damn...should have given it to my younger sister when she moved a few weeks ago. Buy at Women and Children First , Powell's , or Amazon Technorati tags: What to Buy Wednesday , motherhood , parenthood , boo...