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A Blog Is Born

Thanks to my Newborn Essentials List

Before there was a blog, there was a list -- the first ever, original, one-and-only:

 

ChecklistMommy Gearing Up: Newborn Essentials List

I started writing this list almost five years ago, shortly after Diddy was born. Diddy was that classic, easy first baby, the one that nurses on schedule and sleeps through the night and pops all her teeth without a whimper, the kid who makes you think you ought to have more of them. The kid who makes you think parenting is easy, the kid who makes you think you've got it all figured out.

Until one day you look around your house and it is filled from floor-to-ceiling with useless baby stuff.

Seriously --  one day I looked up and realized there was no item of baby clothing, baby toy, piece of baby gear -- or while we're on the subject of hemorrhaging cash -- baby class I had denied her.

Or rather, me. She didn't care. She wasn't the one who had spent the entire 37+2 weeks of her gestation scouring the interweb for the perfect crib and then putting herself on a waitlist for the perfect crib because the perfect crib manufacturer hadn't even started making these perfect cribs yet and they wouldn't be available to ship until Diddy was six months old and once they did finally start arriving in first-baby homes like ours, first-time parents like us would be shocked to discover they were harder to put together and honestly way crappier quality than the Ikea version they resembled.

Which, by the way, costs five times LESS.

Anyway, back to the list. I started writing it around the time Diddy turned one, when a bunch of my friends started having THEIR special first babies and started asking me for advice about strollers and car seats and sippy cups and slings. I got tired of re-inventing the wheel every time I got a panicked email from a pregnant friend who didn't know what kind of crib mattress to buy, so one day I wrote it all down in a Word doc and just started sending that around.

Eventually friends of friends started asking about "the list," and then it started to take on a minor-league life of its own.

 

So here it is for you, the list that started my compulsion to boil down this parenting thing to it's sleekest essence, to figure out systems to streamline all the family-management stuff we have to do around here at Casa Checklist.

Oh, and, don't worry that this list is five-years-outdated -- when Gaga was born, I updated the list to reflect newer, better purchases. Since Pancake and Sausage came along, I've added twin-based info, too.

But back to Diddy, the kid who turned me into the Checklist Mommy in the first place. Diddy turns five today, which seemed a fitting occasion for launching a blog.

 

Happy Birthday, Diddy, my girly, funny, brilliant, loyal, first and oldest kid!

 

You have been a miracle and a joy from the moment you arrived. Even your delivery was quick and painless.  (Well, sort of. The quick part is true. The painless part -- well, let's just say I have faced every challenge since by telling myself if I could handle a drug-free episiotomy -- yes ladies, that was me you heard screaming from three states away -- I can handle anything the universe throws at me.)

Get the list!

ChecklistMommy launched in 2012

Took a hiatus from 2015-2020

And has been fitfully updated when the spirit moves me, ever since. 

Umm ...

Gaga's 12 now ...

and the twins are 10!

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