We love our cozy (read tiny) Spanish style bungalow. It was built in 1925 and still holds many of its original features, such as the exquisite Batchelder tile fireplace, which had been painted over with – count ‘em – six layers of different colored oil-based paint.  Removing each one was like getting to the center of an everlasting gobstopper. There was Navajo white, robin’s egg blue, bubble gum pink, canary yellow, and Mylanta bottle green.

One of the house’s greatest selling points was the hardwood floors. They were buried under thick shag carpeting but we revealed and refinished them and they are perfect – almost. Those darn things creak – nay SCREAM – when treaded on in just the right spot, which was not a problem when we were young newlyweds. We went from either not noticing, to finding a particularly loud spot and swaying back and forth on it, coordinating the loud creaks and squeaks of the boards with our movement while reciting Robert Shaw’s monologue about a shark having “doll’s eyes” from the movie Jaws.

Now that we’ve got a baby who is just learning to be particular about what she will and will not be sleeping through, walking out of her room after gently placing her peacefully sleeping body into her crib, or returning later to check on her has come to resemble escaping a room full of laser beams after a jewelry heist. “I think if I take a wider step riiiight here then I’ll…” Cry! Reset. Begin again.

I’m on my way to go and get some glow tape. Tonight, so help me, I’ll mark my safe path in and out of that room! Or maybe I can get my handy husband to install a zip line from the ceiling to get in and out of there without a sound. Yeah. That’s what we’ll do.

A friend had told me that this site was wonderful for buying diapers in bulk. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t have time to go to a super store and the average market only carries small packs of diapers at inflated prices. I end up buying two packages and literally paying double what I could be paying – if I had the time to shop around.

Well, look no further, it’s Diapers.com to the rescue!

They don’t charge tax in California where I live because there’s no store front here and they have fantastic first time buyer offers. I got five dollars off, plus 10% off my order. They also have free shipping on orders of $49 or over. Refer a friend and save even more.

I logged on after 11pm on a Saturday night and discovered that they not only carry diapers, but pretty much any baby products you’d need or want (I’m extremely curious about the crib sheets that fit around entire mattress, but the top of the sheet zippers off for quick washing and changing! Anyone ever tried one of these swell looking things??). They’ve got formula, clothing, toys, teethers, diaper creams… everything!

I purchased my big box of diapers which were very nicely priced, and then I got so overwhelmed browsing the site that I lost track of the codes for my first-time order discount. When I dialed the helpline my husband called out from the other room “It’s after 11pm honey!” I let it ring and to my surprise and delight, there was a very helpful gal on the other end of the line. She’s a mommy who works from her home in New Jersey, and this job allows her to be there for her kids during the day. What a great company, I thought.

OK, so great selection, great prices, happy and helpful representatives… but it gets better – I received my order before 10am that Monday. You heard me.  I ordered Saturday night, got it Monday morning. I’m sold!

As a new mommy, I find myself with less time than ever to get done the things I used to take for granted. Here are a few things I’ve done (or resorted to, as the case may be):

• Eating yogurt while showering.
• Using the restroom with a sleeping baby on my shoulder. This requires keeping one hand on baby the entire time while utilizing the other to get pants up and down, wipe, get back up, then wash one hand WITH one hand, switching hands to keep baby steadied on shoulder and wash other hand.  DO NOT FLUSH so as not to wake baby.
• Doing all computer interactions on iphone. This includes emailing, facebooking, looking things up on internet search engines like “why won’t my baby nap in her crib,” etc.
• While feeding my daughter with a bottle, using my mouth as a suction cup on the bottom of the bottle to keep it in place while using one hand to open a door or turn on the dish washer, and so on.
• Eating only foods that require one hand such as sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, hot pockets, etc. Note: take care to sweep any crumbs from said foods off of baby.

I think it was the comedienne Rita Rudner who said “I need to have a baby soon before all of the names I’d choose remind me of people I hate.”

When my husband Darrin and I found out we were expecting, we’d spend hours going through baby names trying to find one in each sex we could agree on.

“Sally?” my husband said.

“Mmmm. I don’t think so.” It reminded me of an ex-boyfriend’s mom whose name was Sally.

“I’d like Jon. After my dad. But I have two ex-boyfriends named John, so that’s too weird.”

Then there was the misfortune that could befall our child if the name weren’t a good pairing with our last name which is Butters.

“I like Harrison.”

“Sure, but Harry Butters?”

“There could also be no Marjorie or Milton.”

“Benjamin is nice.”

“Nope. The curious case of Benjamin Butters?”

It went on like this for months.

It’s funny too how people have such strong opinions about YOUR baby’s name. I told someone at work early on one of the names we were considering, and she sneered and strongly encouraged me to keep thinking. Then of course, she offered me some suggestions of names she liked a lot better.

Darrin and I decided that we would keep the name to ourselves until our child was born. That would make it a like-it-or-love-it presentation of our actual baby, who’s name would at that point permanent and non-negotiable.

At work one day a co-worker with whom I wasn’t particularly close came to chat me up on the glory of pregnancy. We compared stories for a while when the conversation went toward the name.

“So, have you picked out a name?”

“Yes, but we’re not going to tell anyone until she’s born.”

“WHAT? Come on, just tell me. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Well, no. And it’s not really about that. It’s just that we found that people had some pretty strong opinions about baby names.”

“Really? Well, seriously, just tell me. Come onnnn.”

“Sorry, but nope.”

She thought for a minute then seemed to accept my answer. Then she added

“Well, as long as it’s not Madison, then I won’t hate it.”

My point exactly.

When we announced our daughter’s birth, and revealed her name as Julia Grace Butters, the reception was warm. We got many, many compliments on the name we’d chosen. Now, I agree, it is classic and beautiful; but does every person who claimed to love the name we chose really love it? Does it matter? No, it really doesn’t. We love it, and that was the point all along.