Not terribly romantic but these gifts are practical and wonderful:
1. A moisturizer that is also a sanitizer.
I wash and/ or sanitize my hands 20 to 30 times a day. Moisturizer is imperative. I even had to wear those moisturizing gloves at night to stop the cracking.
Gold Bond is an excellent choice.
2. A robe with pockets.
At the beginning, I wore pajamas all day and needed to carry the phone – it always ring when you’re in the other room – a granola bar or a banana, or a burp cloth. And then, when the realization of returning to work hit me, I got right back into the jammies and robe once more.
Victorias Secret has a beautiful Sparkle Sweater Robe – not too thick for those hot flashes and still pretty.
3. Burp cloths from Ikea.
Super cheap and big enough to protect the back of your nice clothes from those projectile spit ups. I received hundreds of receiving blankets and no burp cloths. I don’t need THAT many receiving blankets and ended up turning some into burp cloths!
Ikea burp cloths (also available in pink)
4. An e-reader.
Whether it’s an ipad, a nook, a kindle or something else, you can read books in the dark, turn pages and hold the reader with the same hand, get books, magazines or newspapers without leaving the house – it’s a life saver when too much tv is too much!
I wouldn’t recommend the Kindle, but that’s a post yet to come.
I’ll keep adding stuff as I think about it.
Don’t waste your money here:
1. Receiving Blankets!
Let everyone else buy these.
2. Hooded towels
They’re not very thick (unless you get the top of the line versions) and you already have enough laundry to do without worrying about keeping a clean baby towel too, so we ended up using our own towels. Much easier much more cozy for baby.
Royal Belly 