If I had a baby again, I would do A LOT of things differently!

Top 25 Things I Would Do Differently
1) I would not allow my in-laws or any other family members to come stay with us to visit until the baby is 2 months old. This was a living nightmare, for me, I just need space, I need to not entertain or clean up after anyone else and feel free to nurse the baby where ever in my house.
2) I would not nurse in my bedroom the entire time.  It was winter time, it was dark in my room and isolating and I had too much company all the time and I don't nurse in front of others so it meant a lot of time holed up in my room.
3) I'd buy a different pump.  I think I'll get a Medela again, but the freestyle.  The one I had came with this bulky block that had all the mechanical parts and was not easy to pack around.
4) I'd hire someone for 3 hours a day during the week for the first 2 months to come in and do laundry, clean the kitchen and dishes, sweep, and meal prep (not cooking, but chopping veggies, thawing meat, etc), and to hold the baby for 30 minutes while I go take a shower and change clothes.  You'd think my husband would help with this and the in laws that came to stay but what I found was that no one really went out of there way to do things before I asked or do them right.  There was always these things to do and everyone just laid around like it was vacation which for me, meant working double time.  It SUCKED!  Every day I'd spend about 30-45 minutes washing the pump parts, bottles, pacifiers and then about 1-2 hours doing laundry and then when my family would clean the kitchen, I'd go in there to wash the counters and put away all the crap all over the counters because apparently cleaning the kitchen just means doing "most" of the dishes.  Uggh.
5) I'd buy more nursing tanks and comfy pants and I nice rob.
6) I'd register for lots of newborn stuff and 0-3 months because I had to make so many runs to Target to get all the stuff everyone tells you NOT to register for (ie newborn diapers, newborn onesies, newborn socks, hats and mittens, wipe warmer).
7) I'd make a menu and write a grocery list that has check boxes and print about 10 of them so I could just check off the items I wanted my husband to get at the grocery store.
8) I'd love to have a summer baby and go for a short walk each day, I think that really could have helped with the PPD.
9) When I could pump extra milk, I would.  I'd always wait until the day of when I had to go somewhere where I'd need a bottle and sure enough, I'd be able to pump like .5-1 ounce and we'd have to cancel plans.
10) I'd schedule the newborn pictures for the week after the baby was born and find a photographer that would be flexible in letting me email her a couple days after the baby arrived and get in to see them on short notice.
11) I'd take monthly photos of the baby as I mentioned in an earlier post.
12) I'd make sure to tell my friends I would call them when it was a good time to come over to visit and I'd learn to nurse better with a cover up (with a nipple shield, boppy and nursing cover, it was a bit much to orchestrate and I'm just not comfortable exposing myself in front of people).
13) I will hire a babysitter/nanny that comes to MY house (by this time I'll have 3 kids) because I can't even explain how stressful it was to bundle of a newborn and 11 month old every morning and take Monkey to daycare in the middle of winter (imagine a baby carrier slung on one arm, while I'm unbuckling Monkey and getting him out of the car and he couldn't walk until 14 months so I'd carry him as well as Dylan through the snow, OMG, it was horrible!!).
14) I'd put the baby bath in the shower with me while I shower.  Dylan loved laying there in the warm shower and I didn't figure this out until he was about 3 months old!
15) I'd give a baby a bottle of formula sooner instead of having a complete meltdown after nursing an hour and 30 minutes later the baby is hungry again...every. single. time. for the first 2 months.  My baby first cooed when at 8 weeks we were told we needed to supplement because he only gained 1.2 lbs.
16) I'd weigh the baby weekly if I thought nursing wasn't going well to see if he was gaining weight.
17) If it's a boy, I'd make sure the hospital had the circumcision kits on hand to do after the birth so I didn't have to wait until his first check up.
18) I'd take 3 months off of work, and I mean off off.  Not here and there work.
19) I would buy the Angel Care monitor and the video monitor, my fear of SIDS was almost unbearable.
20) I'd put the baby in his bassinet in his own room at least after the first month, it wasn't until about 5 months until Dylan no longer slept in our room.
21) I'd pump bottles so that my husband could do the weekend nightly feedings after the first few weeks.
22) I'd get a caddy for all my pumping supplies like Carla Thebubblelush did, genius!
23) I'd pack the baby around in the Moby wrap more often when they are fussy.
24) I'd skip using a Baby Bjorn and use the Ergo Carrier instead, it rocks!
25) I'd buy the best rocker/glider I could afford with nice upholstered arm rests and thick padding on the seat because spending 8 hours a day in a chair is a lot.  The glider from Target was just not cutting it after about the second day.