Just a few little tips ….

My name is Shauna and I have a two children. Joaquin is a very active two and a half year old and Elena is a chubby four month old. Needless to say, life is busy and sometimes downright crazy. I knew it would be tough to have two kids but I never understood the extent of the difficulty. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret having two kids but there are days I would much rather work a 9 to 5. There are those precious moments that make it all worthwhile like when Joaquin looks me in the eyes and says “I love you mama” or when Elena smiles so big her deep dimples pop out. Actually, I think my favorite is when Joaquin leans over Elena and talks to her and she laughs and smiles. There’s something about that brother-sister connection that is special.

Anyway, as a mother of two, I have a few pieces of advice for all you expecting mothers…….

1. Get a Bella Band to lengthen the life of your pants that are getting to be too tight.

2. Buy at least one pair of jeans that make you feel like a million bucks while wearing them.

3. Exercise, it will help now and later (but don’t forget not to start anything new during your pregnancy so disregard this if you didn’t exercise before).

4. Go on dates with and make love to your significant other now because these two luxuries become exponentially more difficult once you have a kid (or kids in my case).

5. Buy an amazing nursing bra or two or three…..Let me tell you a quick story. After Joaquin was born my milk came in and my size medium, wireless, flimsy bra could no longer hold my bountiful bosoms. My mother and I rushed to Nordstroms to buy a more suitable bra. I went in the fitting room and was measured as a letter that I had never heard of before, an “E” or “DDD.” I was shocked and bought two fifty-dollar bras with underwire. I suffered through the uncomfortable, large bras until I shrank down enough to wear my size medium, wireless, flimsy bra again. After Elena was born I had my mom run to Expected to buy me a Bravado bra that I had heard good things about. I LOVE IT!!!! It is very supportive even without wire and has extra padding that can be removed. It is comfortable enough to sleep in, which, FYI you sleep with a bra on for a while after you have your baby. So, enough preaching, buy a good bra. Oh, one more thing, I would consider buying a few different sizes because you will go through a few different sizes as you breastfeed.

6. There is another “must have” for nursing mother, a nursing cover. Some brilliant mother that could sew came up with the idea to make a cover that is modest and useful. There is boning in the top so you can still have eye contact with your baby (I am finding this especially helpful now that Elena likes to chomp down every once in a while). There is also a little terry-cloth pocket on the bottom that is useful for breast pads and can also be used to wipe up spit-up (both my kids have had reflux so that is super handy for me). I even feel comfortable breastfeeding in front of my father-in-law now. J Even my sister-in-law who has breastfeed two other children loves to use the nursing cover with her third.

7. My other suggestion is don’t forget to think about buying maternity shirts not only for now but for the post-partum body transition. We would all love to pretend that out comes the baby and our bodies are back to normal. Buy shirts that are loser fitting around your belly, like the Lilac Avery top from Expected.

8. Good luck! Remember you are not alone, we are all in this crazy motherhood thing together!