Momma Musings… Part 1

While we adjust to a new way of life over here (and all of the craziness that these first couple of weeks entail), I’ve invited several fellow momma bloggers to share their thoughts on two favorite ‘new mom’ questions of mine:

What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood?
What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without?

I’ll be posting a few each week in July, I hope you enjoy!

Stefanie blogs over at Brooklyn Limestone Limestone and is mom to adorable six-month-old Agatha. Stafanie is my travel guru and a DIYer to one beautiful Brooklyn Brownstone.

1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? How easy it’s been to adjust! That first month is insane and it felt totally overwhelming but after that, it has been smooth sailing. Of course it is a lot of work and a huge adjustment from my old life – but its also a lot of fun! So much more fun than I ever imagined it would be.

2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? Despite my best efforts to try to avoid the baby clutter, my house looks like a Babies R Us bomb went off. In other words, I have a lot of stuff that I find very useful but if I had to pick just one item it would be our stroller – the Bugaboo Bee. Its the only stroller Ive owned so I can’t say its better than others – I can simply say its been great for us. Great shock absorption for those bumpy walks over Brooklyn sidewalks, folds up nicely when we need to travel with it, has enough storage space that I can do a little shopping with it but no so big it can’t maneuver well in small boutiques. The only thing I wouldn’t mind having is a drink holder but I’ve never gotten around to finding one for it.

Mom to adorable Clara, Sherry from Young House Love has to be one of my favorite DIY mommas. I wholeheartedly agree with her answer to #2! We have regular dance parties as instructed by Liv as well.

1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? This might sound weird but I actually really liked nursing. Just the closeness and the guaranteed break that it gave us to go into our own little world together. Clara nursed until she was 14 months old, and although it was awesomely freeing to finally be done (she never took a bottle, so I was pretty much attached to her since birth) it was also really bittersweet when it was no longer a part of our routine.

2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? We got an iPod dock that we used as a sound machine (we bought a white noise CD off of amazon.com for 99 cents and played it on repeat all night long, which really seemed to keep her sleeping for nice long chunks of time). By going with an iPod dock over a sound machine itself, it gives us the freedom to play other fun music in her room with it too – which we do when she’s awake. Everyone needs a dance party…

Emily is the incredibly creative lady behind Jones Design Company and is momma to four adorable littles as well.

1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? I most adore those first few weeks of just falling in love with your newborn. You study his face, learn his mannerisms, are enamoured with each and every move he makes. But it doesn’t end there … you continue to fall in love as each new stage comes – first the simple things like smiling and sitting up, then onto more advanced skills like walking and first words. They reach toddler-hood and their personalities continue to emerge. By elementary-age {where my oldest two now reside} you get to fall in love even deeper as you watch them think and learn and discover. It’s a constant tug between sadness and joy, this motherhood thing. Sadness that they grow so quickly from that precious little swaddled babe and the greatest joy you could ever know in watching them become themselves.

2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? My kids were crazy spitter-uppers, so cute burp cloths were a must! {I made a bunch of my own with this tutorial}

Thanks everyone! And be sure to check out the above blogs, they’re favorite reads for a reason :).