I tend to be a minimalist when it comes to stuff. I have been very blessed when it comes to baby boy clothing. This little boy has more clothes than his Daddy and I together! My sister gave me a lot of stuff, up to size 2T, and my mom and I struck gold on two friends who recently had baby boys and were selling their clothing. (Thanks, Val and Jessica!) We have a few blankets from the girls that will cross over, but most of them were pink or purple.
So in thinking over what I think we need, here's what I come up with. My pregnancy brain will probably leave some things out, so just comment on what I'm forgetting!
- Carseat
- stroller
- a few bottles
- breast pump
- bassinet (maybe)
- pack-n-play (maybe)
- blankets
- cloth diapers
- monitor
Now, I'm sure that there are plenty of other things that could be considered a need, but this is my list of absolute needs. I could add many things to it, but I want to know what products YOU love! And if there is one on that list that you could recommend, that would be greatly appreciated. I really feel like a first timer with all of this stuff. I really haven't spent much time looking at it this time around, and I don't know what is out there.
I do have a dream stroller, if we decide to not go with a double. (that's a debate.. Bianca will just be 4, and we're not sure if we'll have one more or not, so...) If money were no issue, I'd probably go with a Bug a Boo, they are so versatile, but they are also very pricey! I would love to have a stroller that allows baby to face either direction (forward, or towards me) at any age, but the cheapest one I can find is Graco's newest model, the Graco Signature Series 3-in-1 Modular Stroller, coming in at $299. Still a bit high, in my opinion. I like a lot about it, except that it appears that in order to fold it up, the seat has to be removed. I'm curious as to how easy that is to accomplish.  |
| Moby Wrap |
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| Baby K'tan |
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| Maya Ring Sling |
Please share your essential baby items and preferred models! I'm starting my research a bit late compared to my previous experience, and am taking suggestions :)
All pictures are credited to Amazon.com or the website linked in the picture caption.
I have an infant Graco car seat and base that I would be willing to give you for the price of shipping. I have tried to find a new home for it with no luck. Leave a comment on my blog if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteDo you qualify for WIC? MN gives free car seats and some other states do too. We always bought the infant car seats with bases and all the rest of the car seats and boosters for my 3 boys were provided by the state. It might be worth checking into. WIC doesn't give the seats, but they know who to contact.
I had a double stroller with the intention of using it for walks around town-it seemed bulky to pack up for car trips. I had a boys ages 4, 2, and newborn at one time so I thought a double stroller would be useful. I never used it and got rid of it last year. I would go with a good single stroller for the girls and babywear the baby, chances are by the time baby is ready for a stroller they will be ready to walk. We had a lot of strollers here both purchased and from garage sales, and my favorite was a Jeep brand umbrella stroller, about $25 and I think Walmart carries it. The wheels were so smooth, it survived several airplane trips, easy to fit in the car, didn't feel bad if something would have happened to it, cheap to replace. Used it for 3 boys and it still works great.
I haven't had a baby for 3 years either, so not much else help for your list. I was weird and didn't have a changing table, bassinet, bottles, or breast pump and we did just fine. For your list-high chair? I loved our bouncy seat and I kept that in case we have another baby.
I began downsizing baby equipment last year and baby clothes this year. There was so much baby equipment that we never or rarely used. Everyone said I had to have a swing and my babies didn't like it. It was just taking up space here so I was glad to get rid of most of it and just keep what I thought was the absolute necessary if we have another baby. I think this blog post is good to get ideas from. Have fun dreaming about and shopping for boy items!
I have a Moby wrap you could have! It's black.
ReplyDeleteWhat about a swing, a boppy pillow, bouncy chair, bumbo seat, activity mat, high chair...I'm sure I could think of more stuff. :) I love the muslin blankets for summer but he won't really be in the heat for long!
Angie
I think a swing and bouncy seat are nice to have but may not be a necessitiy for you. If you want, you are definitely welcomed to borrow ours until he grows out of them. I think you will want some type of seat for him to eat in. I tend to like the ones that they can grow with so you don't have to keep buying them. I would have died without my breastpump just because there were times when they didn't eat all I had, so I wanted to save it for them but also for my health. I also have a boppy pillow you can borrow. If you don't find a bassinet, we have one that we like that we would be happy to lend you. If you're not comfortable with borrowing things, I totally understand. It might be nice to use them and then not have all the big equipment sitting around afterwards. :-) Are you going to be using a diaper bag? Some people just use a regular bag, but that would be something fun to register for if you're wanting one. Oh, last thing, I also have an exersaucer that you are welcomed to borrow. Again, no pressure here, but you are welcomed to it all if you don't want all this stuff for good.
ReplyDeleteLaura Stapleton
Thanks Gals! You have me thinking about so much more! I forget to mention we have a bouncer seat from my sister.
ReplyDeleteEwe, We have the Jeep stroller also! That one we did keep because we were still using it for Bianca. She has since outgrown it, but we will use it later for the baby.
Currently we would not qualify for WIC, because we are living with my in-laws, and they would be counted in the household income. I think if we were on our own, we may be borderline. Depends on the price of the houses Scott sells each month.
Angie, I will take you up on the offer of the Moby Wrap, if you aren't using it anymore. And
I definitely want some of those linen blankets. I just like the size of them! I wish I could get to my sewing machine so I could make some larger flannel blankets like I did for Bianca. I think one or two of them work for a boy, but I had 4 or 5, and used them A LOT. If anyone sees any larger flannel baby blankets out there, let me know. It gets hard to wrap them up in the normal size after they start stretching out (the baby)!
Laura, I'll have to come over and see what you have. I've been thinking of using the bassinet part of the pack-n-play for night time, but Scott is worried about how hard it is, and after looking at them yesterday, I tend to agree. We have always previously borrowed the bassinet we used, but its in Illinois now, and we're not planning to be back there before September.
And yes, I will need a diaper bag. I do have a Boppy pillow, but its cover is pink... so a new cover is in order. And we have an activity mat. No Bumbo chair, it came out after Bianca. And I was thinking the high chair wasn't something we needed right away.
I went to Toys R Us yesterday with the girls and looked around a bit. Thought maybe I needed to slowly get back into this stuff, and not overwhelm myself by going to Babies R Us right off! Scott and I plan to go there to do a registry soon.
I've seen a lot of people use the Bumbo seat to feed their babies in also. Obviously it wouldn't be a long term solution but it would work for awhile. THey make a tray that attaches to it. You can start putting them in it when they start holding their heads up. I missed my window of opportunity for buying one of them (as I have on a lot of stuff!) but I strongly believe that those that used them early on have babies that sit up on their own sooner. Maybe not, who knows!! You can definitely have my MOBY wrap. I'll send it back with my mom when she comes out here. We really liked the Bundle Me things for the carseats for winter (and the lighter one for fall/spring) instead of using a coat. She stayed plenty warm in it and if it was extra cold outside, we threw a blanket on underneath it. This kept us from having to bundle her so much and from having to adjust the straps on her carseat. I have the lighter one and the heavier one but am not sure if we'll still be able to use them for her this winter. So I'll have to see if we're done with them. I think they can be used on strollers too, which is why I'm not sure. We used the bassinet portion of the pack n play for Juliana to sleep on. It does seem a little hard but she didn't complain - hah! But if you can borrow a bassinet, then that seems like a better option!!
ReplyDeleteAngie
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ReplyDeleteBaby Boy Clothes