No, I’m not pregnant.

I am, however, a big fan of babies. I am completely incapable of resisting their soft tufts of hair, delicious wrist rolls and tiny, bird-like mouths. I’m no fool though. I also remember the long, sleepless nights, desperately trying to translate cries and nipples that felt like they were about to fall off.

New mamahood is the strangest mixture of pure bliss and torture. One minute your heart seems to have expanded into your throat. You are so filled with love and gratitude that you might actually burst. The next minute, you’re almost positive that if you don’t get five minutes of sleep you are going to completely lose your shit.

As I transition into a brand new stage of motherhood—my tween starts middle school in a couple of weeks—I wanted to give a little love to the new moms out there. The mommas who can’t see passed the mountain of dirty diapers to a time when life feels manageable again. Whether that’s you or you have a friend or family member in the throes of new parenthood (or some about to find themselves there), this giveaway is one you don’t want to miss.

Cuddles & Chaos’ ridiculously awesome Big, Fat Baby Giveaway

Before I tell you how you can enter, let’s take a look at the four awesome companies that are making this giveaway happen…

A big thanks to Woot.com for sponsoring this post. They provided product and compensation but all the thoughts and opinions here are my own.

Is it just me or is everyone either having a baby or tending to a new one? I know so many people who are popping out children right now. Aside from thrusting my baby fever into a whole new dimension, the baby boom in my life is making me think a whole lot more about new baby gifts.

Like anyone else, I easily fall prey to cutesy blankets and stuffed animals and stuff. But—spoiler alert!—new mommas do not need another blanket no matter how cute you might think it is. I am so guilty of this (sorry sister-in-law) and am trying desperately to reform—after all, we want to give our friends and family gifts they’ll actually use, right?

Enter a baby gift basket chock full of essentials…

Before I start this post, let me say that I’m not making fun of you, New Moms. Well. I am making fun of you, but I’m making fun of me too. I was you. Anyone who has kids was you, whether they remember it now or are willing to admit it.

Anyone who tells you they weren’t terrified when they became a parent is a liar. New parents are freshmen, stepping into a whole new world with trepidation and wide eyes and seemingly heightened senses. Every new sound is a potential catastrophe. Every sudden movement, a threat. Instead of wandering the halls searching for your first class, you find yourself wandering the aisles of the grocery store wondering what you were there for in the first place.

It’s a whole new world, but, like most things, the first rule to being able to survive it is to remember not to take yourself too seriously. To help you, I’m going to make fun of you—while simultaneously making fun of those of us who are slightly more seasoned at this whole parenting thing.

When I started my Momtrepreneur series a  year or so ago, my vision was to spotlight mommas with handmade businesses. I wanted to find out what inspired them and how they make things work and hopefully give myself a little push while I was at it. I never envisioned venturing out into other types of businesses—until I got an email from Julie McCaffrey of BabyNav Baby Planners.

Julie’s passion for baby planning and her desire to help out other moms in any way possible was immediately clear. So was the value of her business to expectant parents. One quick peek at the BabyNav Baby Planners website had me itching to learn more about Julie.

I became a mother a little bit earlier than most. We were fresh out of college and I had enough of a baby face that the old Irish women in our neighborhood would routinely stop me and (rudely) ask “How old are you?!” For some reason I would humor them and tell them I was 23, which generally made them think twice since they were my age or younger when they welcomed their first bundle of joy.

But I digress.

One of the difficult things about having babies on the early side is that you feel like more of a guinea pig than the typical first-time mom. It’s normal to feel completely out of your element when you first dip your toes into the seemingly shark-infested waters of early parenthood. Everyone does. What can make it even more nerve wracking is feeling like you’re the first.

I mean, obviously, I was nowhere near the first human to ever birth another human. But when you’re the first in your group of friends and the first in your family to have a tiny human burst into your life within the last, oh, 15 years oh so, you feel like you’re navigating uncharted territory.