Pregnancy and Parenting During the Holidays (and a WTE Gift Guide!)

home and we're not going anywhere this holiday season. There's no doubt a lot to miss this year, especially time spent celebrating with extended family and friends, hosting and hopping from party to party, sharing dinners and traditions, exchanging gifts and hugs. But at what to expect. We're here to help make your holidays as festive and fun and joyful

as possible in a kind of way. Today we're talking about what to expect during an unexpected holiday season, how to make your celebrations as special as they are safe, and of course, what to give everyone on your gift list, from babies to grandparents. And I am here with Emma, who takes all of her holidays seriously, especially Christmas. I really do. It's my time to shine, So this year a little different, A little different. What are you looking

forward to this holiday season? Well, I personally am looking forward to not having to make excuses why I don't want to go out on New Year's Eve. Yeah. Yeah, I'm looking forward to my husband taking a few days off work, God willing, and having help with my kids. Your gift, it's a real gift. That's the gift that keeps on giving. I'm really looking forward to just like having that quality family time that maybe we wouldn't necessarily

have of if like there was all these events. And I know Simon has a lot of work parties usually, so I think it's going to be more just like close knit and nice. And I mean it's only one year hopefully, and you know we'll just be a year to remember, Yes it will. What about you? Ours is pretty much the same as usual, except I don't have to set the table for as many people so or prepared quite as much food. It's just you guys are little pod the kids, Whyatt and Simon, That's it. So

I do feel somewhat less pressure. But that said, we never go anywhere on Christmas and New Year's anyway. I think the last time we went out for New Year's Eve was the first year we got married, So we're talking a year or two ago exactly. Oh boy. So something that a pandemic can't take away at least as long as there's an Internet and you, Emma, is meaningful gift giving. And I know it's a little late in

the game. We got what like a week and a half until Christmas, But if you haven't quite scored those gifts yet, we are lucky to have a true expert in that department, the world's most gifted gift giver with us today. Trust me, Santa would be lost without and so would I. So am I. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about your gift for gifts and why giving is better than receiving to you. Well, first of all, I was talking to my girlfriend the other day and she's like, oh, I hate this, like I can't go

to the stores, And I'm like, are you kidding? I never go to the stores. I always shop online. So there's nothing new this year in like that aspect of it. For me, it's so much easier. You can do it in your under or you could do it on the toilet, and you don't have to deal with the holiday crowds in the parking I prefer online shopping, and every year, for me, my favorite part of Christmas is giving gifts,

not receiving gifts. I can sometimes be a negative Nancy, so it kind of keeps my glass full and I get so much more joy having somebody be so happy to receive what I gave them. It's so much more meaningful to me. Yeah, So let's talk about gifts for expectant and new moms, because they're giving the gift of life, so I think everybody should get them a gift as well. I always would have said a prenatal massage, because who can really go wrong with massages? So I would be

like returned to send me too, me too. But most moms do enjoy a good massage or manny petty. But these days, with COVID precautions and shutdowns, that's not really a great option. So I am going to go with the food delivery service. Oh you know what. I was going to say something, but I feel like for this year it's talking to work. I would say a great gift would be to give a mom maternity pictures, like

a cooper aternity pictures. And actually a lot of photographers are doing distant photos on the computer like a zoom photo shoot and they look beautiful, So like if you want to do, like if you know your friend and she's totally into like being sexy, so like a boudoir shoot at which I did when I was pregnant with Seby, But they're doing these photo shoots through zoom and literally these pictures look like they were in the same room.

Oh that's actually all that's really cool. Maybe you could do that plus some lingerie for the pre I liked it, so she could wear that photo shoot. We also wanted to hear from you, so we asked our moms at what to expect the best community on the planet, what is the best gift you ever got when you were pregnant, And we got a lot of comfy, cozy maternity pajamas. So I guess maybe not the lingerie as much, but they definitely want some cozy and comfortable maternity pajamas. What

do you think about that? Um, I think that's great because I literally would just use my husband's shirts. Yeah, but a lot of things when you're pre that are constricting, and you don't want things to be too like tight, especially when you're sleeping because you're already uncomfortable. So definitely comfy pajamas. I'm not mad at that. Lots of self care gifts, so face masks, not the covid kind um

candles that smell yummy. I mean, that's debatable because a little bit of queasiness up in here, and that's who it depends. You know. That is tricky because depending everybody's got a difference. Some people can't handle certain things. And if you give them her candle and she like vomits, and it's your fault, it's upsetting. One mom's yummy is another mom's yuck. Yeah. Comfy slippers, that's good one. The only thing I want to add to that is make

sure they're not slippery on the bottom. They should be not skid, because pregnant women are tend not to stay on their feet. Well, because I can't see them guilty. Pregnancy pillows they are. I love me a pregnancy pillow, and you know, I'm that person who would still sleep with it afterwards until husband's like, Okay, I'm in this bed too, if you want to cuddle, cuddle with me. But yeah, they're great when you're pregnant. They're really comfortable.

We also ask what's the best gift you ever got as a new mom, and of course your baby is the best gift. We're gonna start with that. I mean, that's debatable when it comes to depending free the baby Perry bottle was the best thing that's ever happened to my vagina. That be coming out of your vagina wasn't the best thing that ever happened. Now that ripped me a new one. But with my first pregnancy, I had the hospital squirt bottle and that thing is a nightmare

compared to this thing. Like the Freed to Perry bottle literally has a curb. There's not one person in my life who I haven't bought it for who is pregnant. And you can use it afterwards like a bid day, like if you want to freshen up before sex or something, or after it's a little squirt squirt and you're ready to go fresh as a days. The Freed to Perry is literally the gift that keeps on giving. And I want to add that Emma does not get any money

from Freedom constant endoors spend that. I just love it. I love it. I have to say, every mom I've ever talked to has the exact same feedback, um boppy pillows, love a good boy, loved boy. Lots of moms said meals and food delivery, gifts, certificates and certificates for friends to come and clean, which is a great idea. Maybe not during COVID though, so ran check. Maybe your husband

can give you that certificate. Well yeah, hopefully he's already cleaning, like he doesn't need to give me a certificate for that. Someone also said, and I think this is genius organizer pouches because when you have a new baby of all kinds of stuff, every little bit of stuff needs a home or it could be spread out all over your living room. Yeah, I'm not about that organizational life, but maybe I should be him. So let's talk gifts for little ones. I think we can safely say we have

very different philosophies on this front. Like for me, mine is less is more and I'm more. The merrier exactly, and the merrier the Christmas, the more the gifts. But yeah, I'm really not here to kill your gift giving dreams. I'm here to save you money and time and space in your home, which Emma, you don't have any of anymore because capacity beyond capacity. So the reality is babies and toddlers they don't really care. They love the bright,

shiny objects. They love ripping off the wrapping paper, right, Yeah, you know, especially kind of depressing because you buy them this amazing present. We bought Seby this car last year and he didn't care. He just cared about the damn bow on it. Yeah. They love the bows, they love the ribbons, And I'm just gonna throw in a safety bulletin that you want to keep those ribbons and bows away from your kids after the unwrapping is done, because

they're safety risks. They love unboxing, and then they love playing with the boxes. Right. It's a cliche. You've heard it over and over, but this is a cliche that's actually true. So just wrap a box full of ribbon or like wrapping paper, you could do that. Just don't let them play with ribbon unattended. Too many gifts are just going to overload their senses and their circuits and they're not going to be able to focus on playing with any of the toys that you give them because

they're just so damn many of them. So, like, if you can't help yourself, Emma, I'm not naming names, but it's better to stagger the giving rather than putting them all under the tree at once. I think that's something that Hanukkah has going for it, is that that it naturally staggers it over eight nights. So that's that's that's a smart idea. I'd also limit the ones that we love so much, the ones that were impressed by that makes so much noise and they move and have light shows,

because it's more overload for their senses. And honestly, it's better to give them toys that you know they have to do the work of play and play is their work. Also like super depressing when you get your kids all these gifts and they're like, what's next? And because I get too badly, Yeah, it sucks. I hate it and I keep for punishment though you always say they save it for his birthday. Yeah, clearly you are go big

or go home. Um more is more, and you buy so much for kids that we actually just use your presence, your leftovers for our gifts. Other grandparents have a tendency to overdo One mom. She wrote that her mother gave eight nights of presents to the baby who wasn't yet born for ron Oh my God, wait until that baby is born. Not going to be spoiled at all. That's amazing. So what about dad gifts? What are some gifts that you've gotten for Simon that have scored Um? I'm super

into like sexual gifts, but also like sentimental gaily. Yeah, I had naked pictures. I took it myself and I put on our wedding veil and I had them pre known pillows and then one day kids went in the bedroom and brought them downstairs during a party and it was not great. So you might not want to do that one. I've done so many things with coordinates where we met, where we had our first kiss. I don't

even remember that stuff. I mean I I do. There's just so many things that I've done that he loved. And I'm not going to tell you what I've done this year because they're so good. But we'll also I don't want him to know when we got married, I used to write these love notes and I still has, you know, and I wrote a poem about you when you were born. Yeah, but we know the gift of love. But you know what a good book like a coupon book they homemade with like blow jobs and stuff is

always a winner. Yeah, I mean Christmas, don't spend it all in one day. Sorry, I just made this episode n C seventeen, So listen. Eric and I have been on the receiving end of so many amazing gifts since we became grandparents, and they are from you, of course, the most personalized, the most thoughtful. So if you're looking for a gift for the grandparents in your life, you're gonna want to listen up. So you need a little lead time here. Emma has turned drawings into so many

cool things. Drawings that the kids made, stuffed animals, necklaces, one necklace that I have that I wear every single time I wear a necklace. It's a picture of Lennox and me holding hands and you had it made into a silver necklace. Yeah. I found it on Etsy. This guy and I think Taiwan and he makes everything by hand and it took months, but it was just such an amazing process. He did such a beautiful job for

the link. And yes, well you had the kids decorate handbags and this is balsy because they were pricey handbags and it was really stressful. I got these bags and I had them one year. I think they painted it. One year, they did handprints. I've done sweatpants and sweatshirts with their handprints. All you need is fabric paint. I've done blankets, bubble heads, calendars, those Russian dolls, those sackable dolls, the Russian sacking dolls. Um one was Lennox, one with Seby.

One was the Dog. I think that's it. You have pictures of the kids made into blankets, and my grandparents talked about this like every time I see them. They talked about the blanket that's with the kids on it. Love those around my bed. And then the wall calendars. You made a wall calendar that was epic, twelve Months of Lennox. I think I did it twice. The first one I did my dad's all times favorite movies, So I bought all these costumes of my dad's twelve favorite movies.

So it was I don't know, like Godfather and Apocalypse Now, yeah, Apocalypse Now. And I had Lennox. I did backdrops, I painted, I did everything. And then another one. The first one I did was just the twelve Months of Lennox, which was I think it was the New Year's Baby. And then there was June Gloom with like a rain, and then there was May he was a flower, and Valentine's Day he was Cupid, and Christmas he was Santa, and

then he had a turkey costume for Thanksgiving. But now, but like you know, because we're all at home, this is a really great idea and you can do it really fast, and places like snapfish they do it and it's really inexpensive and they have amazing fifty off codes, so you end up spending like twelve dollars for this beautiful calendar. They're really the gift that keeps on giving. I actually would rather have these gifts than anything you

could buy in a store. I mean, they're priceless to me and for you guys out there, I'm going to share some pictures of some of Emma's best of gifts so you can see for yourself on my social media. And you know, if having Emma here with us wasn't enough, What to Expect Team at what to Expect dot Com has holiday gift guides for babies of all ages, parents, grandparents, caregivers,

So if you still need inspiration, please take look at that. Now, we all know that the holidays are about so much more than gifts they're about the holiday parties and big family dinners and get togethers, and for me, Dave spent

cooking and baking and decorating. And usually it's about a whole lot of stress and a whole lot of performance pressure and anxiety and travel and lugging strollers and bags through the airport and little ones who are over stimulated and undernapped and they're missing regular meals and bedtimes, and if they're old enough, they're all sugared up on those

gingerbread houses. Maybe. Plus, if you're pregnant, who can really have fun at a holiday party, because even if the eggnog is pasteurized, you can't have it with the rum. So really, what's the point. So this year it's a little different, and in some meaningful ways, I'm going to venture to say it's good difference. We asked our moms at what to expect, how this holiday is going to be different for them, and most of you say it's

bitter sweet, but it's really more sweet. A lot of moms said they're gonna miss seeing their friends and their extended families, but they're actually looking forward to staying at home, like you, Emma, with celebrating just us you know, with that little family unit, which makes it you know, less stressful and more special. So no obligations to party hop or hosts or to travel, just hunker down and be together with less stress and less pressure. No sleep schedules

mess with unless you say so. Just like matching Christmas jammie's and holiday movies on the sofa. That's what it's all about this year, and that's kind of awesome. They're a little sad, but mostly excited. Most of them said to to skip the fast lane and the t s a line. Who wants that at Christmas season? And the Santa line at the mall. But that kind of brings us to the next topic, which is the Santa photos.

You know, it's a holiday tradition, so it's definitely risky, if not impossible, to do Santa photos at the mall now. So it's a good thing that motherhood is the mother of invention, because we had our mom's come up with some great mall Santa substitutes. Tears not included. One was putting the baby and a Santa outfit or parents dressing up as Santa and Mrs Santa and baby as the Elf. I feel like that would work for young, young, young kids. Yeah, I would say like over too. Maybe not. Yeah, I'm

gonna say a cat might be trickier. But if you have a dog, especially a big dog, and you dress them up as Santa and then the baby can sit in their lap kind of thing. Some moms said they had photoshop Santa into their family creative, don't ask me how. And and when you're doing a call with Santa, you did a call with Santa. I'm so excited. We're doing a call with Santa. They ask you all these questions ahead of time, like what are your kids names? What

do they want for Christmas? So it's super personalized. It's probably more personalized than actually going because there's not like a line of like fifty screaming kids, and just like overwords. The best part is for me, this is what sold me on this using this one is that they send you a video afterwards of the whole thing. So you get pictures and a video and it's kind of just like a whole souvenir from experience. So nice. But yeah, they're so excited. Does Lenox still believe in Santa? And

it's hard at hearts? He does. Okay, let's keep it that way, So me, I'm just happy to hunger down with you guys with the kids. I'm really sad that um Abby norm the great grandparents can't be with us because everybody's locked down. Something else about the holidays this season that's different and really sad is the extreme hard ship that so many families are going through this year

because of the pandemic. And we talked about this all the time, but how many little ones are hungry, how many families aren't home for Christmas because tragically has left them without a home. So in the true spirit of the holiday season, we were to expect, always aim to help organizations that support families in need, and this year they're just more of them than ever. I mean, you and Lennox decided to donate to Toys for Talks. Yeah, normally they have the bins everywhere, but I haven't seen

them obviously this year because of COVID. So we went online and Toys for Talks was great because they had a list of things and he picked something to represent himself for an older kid and something to represent a baby for Seby. But there's so many organizations like that online where you can adopt a family and give them gifts, like a lot of the parents need like underwear and socks.

It's amazing, Like you see my child's Christmas list and you see these kids lists who just want like a soccer ball or a scooter or like one thing all they want. So it's really great to be able to like give them that. My older son's school does a secret and a toy drive for underprivileged children, and we picked a child and he just wanted a Target gift card, so we got a Target gift card. But I just think it's really important to get back in any way

you can. It is, and it's also I think an important message to kids because you know, especially if you know they've got the gimmes, that you know there are other kids who aren't as fortunate, and we need to

remember that. More great organizations that what to Expect wants you to know about this year there's no kid hungry, Save the children and family promise just to name a few, and you can go to what to Expect dot com slash giving for more information on how these incredible organizations are helping this year and how you can help them help others. I say, let's embrace this new relaxed holiday normal because there is plenty of time to party like it's in one, so let's just resolve to do that.

It's like the best line I've ever heard. In the meantime, we are sending lots of love for meaningful holiday season. Emma and I and What to Expect podcast will be back with brand new episodes starting on January six. Happy holidays and happy New Year. Hugs to you and those you love who babylove my baby love. I need you, Oh how I need you. Thanks for listening. Remember I'm always here for you. What to Expect is always here

for you. We're all in this together. For more on what you heard on today's episodes, visit what to Expect dot com slash podcast. You can also check out What to Expect, You're Expecting, What to Expect the First Year, and the What to Expect app. And we want to hear from you. Connect with us on our community message board or on our social media. You can find me at Heidi Murkoff and Emma at Emma bing wt E and of course at What to Expect. Baby Love is

performed by Riley Peterer. What to Expect is a production of I Heart Radio from more shows from I Heart Radio check out the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. In my arms, what don't You Stay? Neja Needa, Baby Boo Baby,