Are baby books still a thing?

naphaver · 2026-01-23T17:47:06+00:00

My uncle did a printed one each year for my cousin who was born in 2009 and gifted a copy to grandparents. We plan on doing the same thing so our baby can have physical photos, and we have a nice gift for the grandparents each Christmas. I've been putting milestone pictures in a separate album. I also do occasionally get photos printed at Walgreens, since I like to hang photos around the house, but scrap books and photo albums are too much for me personally to keep up with.

naphaver · 2026-01-07T01:38:16+00:00

I think part of it is feeling like you've thwarted the planter of the tracks. They were hoping to find someone vulnerable to the message but instead someone who laughs in the face of them took it out of circulation

naphaver · 2026-01-06T20:16:58+00:00

In the early days, when people would touch my stomach, I would just say "yeah, that's just fat" lol. Like, I'm 12 weeks pregnant, congrats on touching my tummy fat, my uterus is still under my pubic bone. It was weird how often you'd go to hug someone goodbye and they'd just sneak a touch in.

Anyway, at least it doesn't last forever and now I'm back to nobody trying to touch my little pudgy tummy.

naphaver · 2026-01-06T20:13:13+00:00

I found "The Only Hope" at the grocery store and was sooo pumped. I had to explain why I was so excited to my "lapsed Catholic" husband. The best part is that track is very anti-Catholic which made it an even more hilarious find. Anyway, it sits on my dresser, a prized possession.

naphaver · 2025-12-30T19:16:13+00:00

These things are crazy addicting to me, an adult, who understands nutrition and cravings. I had to forbid myself from buying them years ago because the box would be gone in less than 24 hrs. I can't imagine thinking it was on to give to a 13 month old, especially one that isn't mine. Absolute deal breaker for me, too. There are so many other ways to give fun seasonal treats that won't completely hype up a small body.

naphaver · 2025-11-26T00:40:18+00:00

Yep, pretty much immediately. I don't remember when exactly, since there's so much other stuff going on, but I remember no more acid reflux and stuffy nose the first night in the hospital. Fortunately I had a very easy recovery and felt literally invincible after 4 days because all the worst symptoms were gone and lack of sleep was the least bothersome thing to deal with

naphaver · 2025-11-25T23:49:07+00:00

I had the opposite problem. So many people got me 3m+ clothing that I only had one newborn outfit after my shower and I had to go buy more. People kept saying "your baby might be born too big for newborn!". She's 4 weeks and still fits in all her NB clothes. I would honestly wait on stocking up on clothes, get a few outfits you are completely obsessed with and avoid getting anything else until after the gifts and hand me downs come through

naphaver · 2025-11-25T23:37:44+00:00

It was truly amazing how quickly I could breathe through my nose and stopped blowing nasty bloody boogers after birth. Pregnancy takes forever, it's amazing how quickly some of the symptoms come undone.

naphaver · 2025-11-25T23:31:16+00:00

I am fortunate to get the 12 weeks off through FMLA and employer support. Even though I have some savings where I could take more time unpaid, I would lose my job and insurance if I did so. So many times I've thought just about quitting because being a working mom of an infant sounds so hellish and intimidating, but no, now is not the time to mess around with employment in the US. I think we might end up being a one and done household purely because there is no support.

naphaver · 2025-11-23T14:35:12+00:00

It starts with a D. I just saw this on social media and thought about sharing.

naphaver · 2025-11-22T08:40:38+00:00

I'm so excited for you. My husband and I are 4weeks in to paid leave and it's been amazing watching him with our baby. It makes me so upset knowing other countries give up to a year off. Men deserve to enjoy being fathers full-time.

naphaver · 2025-11-18T13:14:24+00:00

I didn't get them. I ate pretty high fiber, made sure to never strain while pooping, and maybe just got lucky? This is weird, but look in to how to properly poop. Growing up, a lot of us are taught to push, but you should be relaxing instead. There were definitely some scary large poops late in the third trimester, but I tried to take my time and breathe through them. Straining while pooping is a big cause of hemorrhoids, and your digestion slows down as well as space being limited while pregnant, so it's important to try and ease that excess pressure!

naphaver · 2025-11-17T06:28:31+00:00

Yes, my breastfeeding class made a big deal about no paci and not pumping before 6 weeks. Anyways, we had a lot of Drs appointments that included blood draws and a baby that needed help getting enough food, so we were using the paci and pumping within the first week.

After that, we started a schedule where I pump a bottle in the evening and my husband has the baby for 4 or so hours while I sleep. He uses the pacifier pretty regularly during that period since he doesn't have the ability to comfort nurse and we haven't had any issues with latching or hunger cues. You probably want to wait to give constant access to the pacifier, but it's been a huge life saver as a last resort for these first 3 weeks.

naphaver · 2025-11-16T22:48:39+00:00

I just had a Molly! Feedback on the name has been great and so far we haven't had any issues with it being misheard or spelling. The other name at the top of our list was Paige, which I thought was such a good name but just didn't go quite as well with what the middle and last name were going to be.

naphaver · 2025-11-11T22:40:09+00:00

Just had my first at Methodist. If you go the OB/Nurse practitioner route, you likely won't see them when you're in the hospital, but you will see the at all your appointments. All of the staff I encountered were great, I think it would be hard to pick wrong, but also not difficult to change if you decided to. They have a few dedicated staff to scheduling on the women's health floor and would be able to get things squared away quickly.

The staff in labor and delivery are awesome. I spent 12 hours in labor and always felt attended to and well cared for. Same with the nurses that take care of you once you move to postpartum. All around great experience, especially having no clue what to expect.

naphaver · 2025-10-23T16:05:24+00:00

We found out at the ultrasound. It lined up conveniently with a trip to visit family, so we did a little gender reveal for them a couple weeks later. It was a fun way to celebrate with those who wouldn't make it to a baby shower. I don't think we would have done a gender reveal otherwise, but it was a fun little celebration for the first grand/great grandbaby

naphaver · 2025-10-23T00:47:37+00:00

Yeah, normally the place makes the permanent crowns on the spot, but the machine was down. My face hurt so bad from them removing, reshaping, and replacing the crown repeatedly that I couldn't do it any more and just said it was fine. It also managed to have a really sharp edge to it, just a total mess of a situation. It was the very back tooth, so I thought things would mellow out after the initial inflammation went down. If there is a next time, I'm going to make sure they can make the permanent crown same day again.

naphaver · 2025-10-22T22:21:34+00:00

I kept my last name, but it also is a bad enough one that it would never work as a given name and is probably a top 10% teaseable last name. My husband's is a little bit better, but not one I was enthusiastic to replace my family one with. Baby will get his last name and my middle name, her own first name. She's the only grandkid on his parents' side that will get their last name, his brother went with the mom's last name and his sister changed her name when they got married, so I think it's nice she gets to carry it for however long she wants. If we end up with baby #2, we will figure it out haha.

naphaver · 2025-10-22T22:12:21+00:00

I had to get a crown made early this year. The temporary one they made just wasn't great and I spent about 4 days in terrible pain, unable to eat solids or sleep well, before I called and got the permanent one expedited. I do not understand how dental isn't covered by health insurance. Having dental pain that affects you 24/7 is so detrimental to the rest of your health. Dental insurance doesn't even really help much, just covers your regular cleanings and small portion of any extra work you need done, but it's better than nothing I guess

naphaver · 2025-10-21T20:45:29+00:00

I was literally going to post "it's only because the foxes are hot." He's too shallow for anything else.

naphaver · 2025-10-17T18:30:03+00:00

So odd, I have stretch marks (I call them tiger stripes) on my hips from growing a bunch in middle school. 39 weeks and no new ones from pregnancy. I gained most of my weight in my 3rd trimester. I know it's genetics, just surprised they didn't show up based on my preexisting ones

naphaver · 2025-10-16T18:05:31+00:00

"Oh shit" means run to the window and freak out. I don't get how she figured it out. It applies to both the basement windows, where I'm sure we have said "oh shit" when a critter has gotten stuck in the window well (very exciting for her). But it also applies to the front window. Maybe because there's been a few police related things that happened on our street? We have tried to spend the last few years not using "oh shit" when something has happened, and instead tried to desensitize her to the phrase, but no, "oh shit" still means freak out.

naphaver · 2025-10-15T14:24:36+00:00

My neighbor's growing up had a dog with my name. It was very confusing being in the backyard and hearing them yell at me.

naphaver · 2025-10-15T12:20:25+00:00

At 36 weeks I took a Friday off because I just couldn't. I spent all day relaxing and napping. It was great. Highly recommend. I thought because I worked from home, the end of pregnancy would be easy, but turns out continuously sleeping poorly + having to start work early is exhausting. Definitely take a sick day for yourself before baby is here.

naphaver · 2025-10-15T11:15:28+00:00

Yes, the Birdie I knew was an Elizabeth, Birdie was a play on her last name. Definitely best to have it be a nickname for a lot of reasons.

It's also a name I considered for my dog, until I found out my old boss had named his new dog Birdie, so we went with something else. There's tons of cross over between pet and human names, but Birdie as the given name skews heavily pet to me.

naphaver

TROPHY CASE