This is gorgeous. Anand is a lucky boy to get such a wonderful letter!

Oh Mary Anne, what a sweet letter. I'm so happy it's easier for you the second time around. But I must confess you scare the hell out of me, talking about how exhausting it is with an infant. I'm due in 6 weeks and my husband is deployed and I have no family, no nanny, just my best friend who will be here for a few weeks, then it's all me, all the time for nearly 6 months. I have no idea how I'm going to do it. I just keep reminding myself that it won't last forever...

Enjoy those precious, happy moments... and please keep writing about them! :-)

Oof, Kristina. That sounds hard. Okay, here's what I would do, if I were in your situation:

- prep as many meals as I can now, of things I like to eat. So for me, that's be making big batches of curry and dividing them into smaller portions for freezing. My friend Nilofer also made herself rice and froze that in small portions. Plus, stock up on ready-made food, both in the pantry and freezer. And beverages -- to make milk, you need to keep drinking, and even if you love water, it's nice to have a change. Eat takeout if you can afford it. Have fruit in the house.

- be sure you have a good supply of newborn clothes, because babies will go through 3-6 outfits a day, easily, what with the somehow managing to pee through their diapers and poop up their backs. The only things that fit Anand right now are Carter's NB size -- all the 0-3 clothes he has, and he has a ton, are too big. So we're doing laundry almost every day, because after two days, he's out of clothes! With more clothes, we could do the laundry less often, which would be a help. For fall, I'd recommend long-sleeved sleepers or gowns, and I'd get at least a dozen of them. Luckily, Carter's is cheap!

- other than that, I'd just try not to do anything else. Your goal is to keep you and the baby fed and as rested as possible. Clean is a bonus. The first week or two it might sleep a lot, so use that time to sleep and recover from the birth. Give yourself permission to watch a lot of tv and just rest, snuggling the baby as much as you like.

- oh, and if you end up with a screamer, once he's fed and clean and wrapped up, it's okay to walk away to another floor and let him scream a little if he wants to. It won't hurt him, and you need to maintain your sanity too.

:-)

Oh, two more things. It should get a lot easier after six weeks or so; most babies start sleeping more at night around then, and are sleeping through the night by three months. Kavi didn't, but she was an outlier. :-)

And I'd highly recommend a sling. The Moby or Sleepy Wrap are good for newborns, and while they're a bit confusing the first time you put them on, you learn how to use them quickly. And after you get them down, they're invaluable for letting you keep baby happy while you walk around the house and get things done.

Thanks so much for the suggestions, Mary Anne. I'm trying to be super-organized right now. I've started freezing meals and stocking the pantry with necessities.

I have a sling-type carrier and the Moby Wrap is on my registry. I've been going back over your posts after Kavi was born and making notes about your recommendations. That is one of the things I love about your blog-- you give practical advice about what works and what doesn't.

Thank you!