I’m Tracy Moore, mom of two cuties, host of Cityline and lover of fashion, fitness and food (mostly chocolate). With Mother’s Day coming up in the next few weeks, I’m working with Best Buy to curate the perfect gift lists for moms. Check out my blogs each week leading up to Mother’s Day where I share my recommends on must-have new mom gear, my fave fitness products and how to take some much needed time for yourself. Sit back, grab a coffee, peruse the website and ask your loved ones to consider gifting you some of these great items. And if they don’t, you’re a modern mom—buy them for yourself!
Let’s rewind to winter 2008. Me, my beach ball belly and my husband step into a big box baby store full of dreams of tiny yellow onesies. What greets us is aisle upon aisle of plastic, primary-coloured product. Strollers, diapers, breast pumps, soothers, a billion bottles and toys. Within 10 minutes I am drenched in tears, completely overwhelmed and feeling wholly inadequate as a shopper and a soon-to-be mom. Was it the hormones? Of course! But it was also the reality of having way too many options and just not knowing what was needed and what wasn’t. Use my breakdown to your advantage.
Here are a few tips I wish I had then:
You will need a stroller. There’s just no way around it. We jogged, flew and shopped with ours and basically ran it into the ground. But it held up because we invested in a good one.
Ask yourself this; is it easily collapsible? You don’t want to be the new mom in a full-on sweat at your trunk with your baby wailing on the ground in her car seat because you can’t get the darn thing open (or closed). Also getting into and onto airplanes will be a breeze with a lightweight, easily collapsible model.
Will you need a mandatory, non-negotiable non-fat, no whip mocha latte every day of your mat leave like I did? If so, your stroller better fit through a traditional storefront door. You can’t leave your baby outside a coffee shop. People frown upon this.
Do you plan on getting a light sweat on during your mat leave? Consider a jogger so that you can double up your baby time with sweat time. That was a crucial part of my post-baby weight loss.
Also before baby arrives, give yourself some peace of mind by getting a high tech baby monitor, a breast pump and tons of newborn diapers, wipes and soft blankies. None of these will go to waste. My husband and I spent way too many restless afternoons spying outside the nursery, trying to figure out if the baby was up but not wanting to wake the kid, because who on earth wants to wake a baby?! Our audio monitor just wasn’t efficient enough. These days you can get baby monitors that do everything but your dishes. You can link some up to your smart phone and you need never spy outside the door again. You will be shocked (and perhaps appalled) by how much a 7 pound human can poo and spit up, so diapers, wipes and blankets are a sound investment.
However, I would hold off on buying any baby carriers until AFTER you’ve met the little one. Babies are oddly particular for new humans. Some want to be held facing you. Others want to see the world. And yet others want to live ON YOUR BODY… like ours did. Sigh. Our first child would stay in a bouncy chair for approximately .002 seconds before screaming, while our 2nd wanted to stay in the same bouncy chair all day. Both babies loved the swing, thank goodness, because this was momma’s time to run on the treadmill.
So don’t give up all hope when you walk into that baby store. In fact skip it and go online 1st. Make a list and only buy the things you need right away. Keep in mind the most important thing your baby needs is you!
Click here to see my gift suggestions for mother’s day
I’ll be posting new articles regularly for the next few weeks: Click here to read more of my mother’s day series
