Even if you think your child is laid-back and afraid of nothing... the first haircut can be a scary situation.
As a baby, my son was always an inch away from an emergency room visit because of his fearlessness. The vaccuum? No problem. Strange dogs? Let him at 'em. New babysitter? He'd grab a book and want to cuddle right away. Bees? Mmmm, those looked like a tasty treat to him! He really was afraid of very little.
And then came the day I dreaded. Those cute little wisps of baby hair had to go, according to his Daddy. I had protested long enough and finally gave in. As you can see from the picture, it was a horrifying experience from start to finish. I was so surprised to see that something I figured he would take in stride was so harrowing to him. Hindsight (which is always 20/20, right?) has me thinking that I wish I'd prepared more and just done the job at home. It took a good long while before my son was ready to go back to the barber. So, save yourself some money and time and possibly avoid the trauma and tears by cutting your child's hair at home. This video will show you how.
Photo (c) Darrin Brown
It's easy to go a little nuts when you're pregnant and walking the aisles of your favorite baby stores. Everything looks so enticing and you're just so ready for your baby to be here. It's easy to forget that for the first few months, your baby needs little more beyond feeding, clothing, diapering and bathing supplies. Heather Corley breaks it down like this:
I did get one thing on the "don't need" list that I didn't think I'd use until later — an umbrella stroller. I didn't use it for my son, though. I used it to cart things around and for grocery shopping. I wore him in a sling a lot and found that the shopping cart was often in the way. And when you're already carrying a baby, you don't want to be carrying anything else that you don't have to. I'd throw my purse and the diaper bag in it and hook a couple of bags over the handles for the groceries.
It was just easier than lugging the giant stroller and trying to set that up (I'm not very mechanically inclined or coordinated) and then handles were at just the right height that they didn't interfere with the sling. You gotta do what works for you, you know? I know lots of moms that would be lost without their big strollers, but we used ours maybe twice.
