The Schmoo Gear

We started out with the noblest of intentions. We registered for only the bare necessities, borrowed from friends, and wherever possible bought our baby goods used in a vain attempt to avoid all the gadgets and gimmickry the baby industry insists you can't live without. Those first few days in the hospital you're thinking to yourself..."this isn't so bad". I feed baby, swaddle him up, put him in the crib and he sleeps...well..."like a baby". Never-mind the nurses who come and steal your baby away to the nursery between feedings, leaving you longer stretches of sleep. Ha.

On our first night home from the hospital, we had a lovely dinner, fed the babe and placed him in the Pack-N-Play (a decided necessity) in order to have him closer.

Schmoo in his Pack-N-Play

This was the first chink in our facade. Our little one appeared to hate the Pack-N-Play...or he could have had gas, a wet diaper, or have still been hungry. In any case, what did soothe the boy was cuddling in the arms of a gracious adult (Mom, Dad, Lola, Tita Annie, or Oma). After a sleepless night with our little Schmoo, we immediately started a search for the perfect device to mimic the feeling of being carried around in our arms (all night). Scott managed to find a Papasan swing on Craig's List and, valiant husband that he is, promptly picked it up within hours. That night we were able to soothe our little one to sleep with the sounds of a babbling brook, chirping birds, and a cuddly, swaying Papasan chair.

Schmoo in the Papasan Swing

Three days later, when the novelty of the swing wore off, Scott and I found ourselves at Target with a huge gift certificate from Scott's wonderfully generous co-workers. I can honestly say that I have never had so little resistance from Scott in buying "stuff" before. To the Baby Whisperer's dismay, within the span of an hour we had convinced ourselves that we needed a vibrating chair to occupy and entertain the babe in the daytime, and a co-sleeper to keep him close and wean him off the swing at night.

Schmoo in the Vibrating Chair

Schmoo in his Co-sleeper

Our facade completely crumbled when, after a week of failed attempts, we conceded that the sling(s) (one a gift and two inherited) that we had deemed a must-have were simply not going to appease the Schmoo. In fact, each and every time he was put into one he managed to straighten his little two week old body stiff as a board and turn a lovely shade of eggplant while screaming at the top of his little lungs. So, with fatigued arms we broke down and purchased a Baby Bjorn.

Schmoo in the Baby Bjorn

The funny thing is, I can honestly say that we still use each and every piece of this furniture...just at different parts of the day or week in order to keep things interesting for our little monkey. Despite our best intentions to avoid buying what we (Scott) had deemed "Baby Crap", there have been many a bleary-eyed time when they preserved our sanity. The Papasan swing still serves as our best offensive play in getting a good night's sleep. The Pack-N-Play currently serves as Schmoo's second nursery in Scott's office, so he can have him close and still be productive. The co-sleeper is doing the trick in helping us wean the Schmoo off his Papasan swing addiction. The vibrating chair allows our Schmoo to join us at the table for meal times, where he coos and gurgles while batting at the toys dangling within reach. And as for the Baby Bjorn...well...we really can't say enough about the value of the Baby Bjorn. It allows us to do laundry, pick-up around the house, cram food into our mouths, and hold the phone while arguing with Insurance companies. The Schmoo loves it, and so do we.

Truth be told, the sound of this little one crying is akin to having some someone rip our hearts out of our chest and hold them ransom outside of our bodies...and there really isn't a thing in the world we wouldn't do to soothe him. The good news is...a year from now there is one lucky newborn who has a ton of "baby crap" coming their way. :)