First of all thank you ladies so much for all the advice on piecing together our Dear Birthmother letter. Now I feel like we have so many great options we don't know which to choose! But still better then where we weer yesterday with no options! So thank you for the advice and keep it coming!
So our paper work part is officially turned in! So exciting! I'm starting to get nervous. Right now I guess I feel like we're not waiting because we don't have our letter in but once we are officially "waiting" I don't know how I am going to handle it! I'm half crazy now but then...oh you can bet the full crazy will come out!
OK so title of this post baby stuff! While I have bought nothing yet ( and financially won't until after our shower and we see what we still need) I have so many ideas! Feel free to drop in your 2 cents!
The Nursery
Can I just say I LOVE THIS!!!! I am a total country girl at heart and I love this! It's so girlie and country yet not "too country" I found it on ebay starting bid $49.95 I hope its available when we actually need it!
This crib! Love it! From WALMART for around $200 and is completely convertible all the up to fitting a twin size bed!
This is just really pretty. I love the wall!
And this I love girlie without being pink overload. ( I do like pink overload at times) I just think this is so classy and calming!)Strollers and Car Seats
This is a top choice because it's cheap but still a Graco and safe. BRU for $109 can't really beat that. And I know it's pink so obviously if we have a baby boy I would get the blue one, but if we have a girl first and a boy second I would just get a car seat cover for this one :)
This is also a VERY top choice because I love the pattern! It's called Rittenhouse by Graco but they discontinued this pattern ( what the heck were they thinking!) It's like black and white damask and so fitting boy or girl! BUT because it's discontinued there are very few places that have it and if they do its crazy expensive. The travel system for this pattern at Wal-Mart is $300+. You could get a Graco travel system for around $200 so I don't think this pattern is worth an extra hundred!
I like this travel system a lot too. It's gender neutral and still cute. I think it's called the Catalina. Any thoughts on travel systems? I hear some people say to get a car seat with a snap and go and then when they are in regular strollers get a different one...I am thinking travel system and snap and go...
Snap and Go...any thoughts or opinions?
And these 2 above people are my new FAVORITE girl pattern! How cute are they! Again discontinued BUT it's called Zarafa by Graco and just adorable. Up close they are little giraffes! how cute is that? I seriously think I need this one!Seating and Eating
Again the lovely Rittenhouse pattern. This is only $100 and I saw one just like it but with a different pattern at BRU and think its wonderful.
And I don't know if we need both but a booster seat that we may get instead of the high chair ( space is limited in our place) and this one had good ratings. I believe its a Safety First one.
And all my friends swear by Dr. Brown's so that's what we'll go with!Baby Carriers
This one I really like Reviews are mixed but I think I will really want baby close to my heart ( literally) for a while and this sling would be awesome to keep him/her close to me for bonding.
This one is just like the Baby Bjorn one but like $50 cheaper and has great ratings so Infantino it is!
And this is the Ultimate baby Wrap...I don't know if it's really me, but I like the idea so...we'll see.Monitors
This is the Angel Care Monitor. I don't know if you've heard of it but it's suppose to detect if a baby has stopped breathing and thus prevent SIDS. I don't know if it works or is just a peace of mind or what BUT I want that peace of mind so if any one knows anything about it please share.
OK I really don't need a video monitor in our 2 bedroom apartment...I just like it.Misc Items
Hubby is an avid cyclist. How cute would they be with baby riding around town with Daddy in this?
And the Boppy of course...with my "thing" of the moment CUPCAKES!
Hope you enjoyed my Baby Items Tour! I had so much more stuff but had to stop myself or this post would be more ridiculously long than it already is :)
20 comments:
It's so much fun to look isn't it? I love Precious Moments and they are hard to find, so when I find anything Precious Moments, I buy it. :)
Oh man...I love checking out baby stuff!!! I've just started to let myself think about where the high chair, baby swing and playpen would go in our house...now I just stare at those spots for hours dreaming!! :o)
You definitely found some CUTE stuff...why are the super cute ones discontinued???? That's crazy!!
You're getting closer!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are really getting prepared...sorry I don't have any suggestions/advice since I haven't started looking at any of this! Good luck though, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun!!
How fun to be looking at all the baby stuff! I love our Graco stroller and the car seat snaps right in, so no need for two strollers. I also highly recommend a decent smaller stroller for when baby gets older as it's easier to get in and out of the car. MacLarens come with a big price tag, but can't be beat as far as being easy to push, especially if you are over 5'2". :) I found ours on e-bay brand new for about $80 less than what I would have payed in the store.
We have also found that a booster seat has been fine and have never used a high chair. So if you need to save the space, that would work well.
I'm so excited for you to be getting closer to official waiting! Can't wait to hear when you get matched!!!
Wow girl, you have been doing your research!! I feel like such a slacker now...I have no clue what I want to get...lol! Looks like you've made some great choices though! :) I can't believe some of that has been discontinued...I love the damask stuff, too!!
We have the pink/brown graco infant car seat. Love it. Shelby gets hot in it but I think all car seats babies get hot in. We have the Baby Trend Snap-n-go. I love it. It is not heavy or bulky like other travel systems are. Moms in my playgroup also comment how they wish they had gotten one instead of the travel system. I would also look into getting a jogging stroller, even if you are not a jogger. It would be great for you and your DH to push the baby in, if you go on walks or are out and about in LA. It easily maneuvers over bumps in the sidewalk etc. And they look kinda cool.
Have fun shopping and dreaming!
So much fun looking at the stuff you have picked out. Baby items are so overwhelming because there is so much to choose from. I like the third option for the nursery. The girly but not too girly one. I hope that your birth mom letter comes along easily for you. I am sure it must be difficult to write. Good luck!
Just my two cents worth, the extra $50 for Bjorn over infantimo brand is WORTH IT! I tried them both on, and there was simply no comparison. I bought the Bjorn and have been VERY happy with my decision. I used the sling carrier for the first few weeks with Charlie. I did like it, but quickly found that he got hot down in there...again, I think the Bjorn is better and if we have more children I'm not sure I would use the slingrider again.
For your high chair, check out the Me Too chairs you can get online...they are GREAT, and awesome space savers too!
My other MUST have is my miracle blanket. You can google it and check it out...again, worth ever penny I paid!!
Good luck...isn't all this so exciting?!
Melba
Dr. Brown's bottles are awesome! A pain to clean, but I like them anyway! They helped our colicy baby a lot!
I think the snap-n-go is a great idea. My mom bought one so that when we were visiting them we could just snap the carrier in it and we didn't have to bring our stroller along. With that said, we love our Graco Metrolite. It's the perfect size.
As far as the highchair/booster. My mom has he booster that you chose, and I hate it! It's so hard to recline (you have to use both hands), and if you recline it, the tray will recline with it, so it won't be flat. We have two of the Fisher Price Space Savers, and we love them!!! When you recline the seat you can move the tray so that it's alway flat no matter how much you recline. And it has a button on the front so you can remove the tray with one hand. The recline handle is on the front of the seat, so it's fairly easy to recline one handed. It's easy to clean, and it will turn into a backless booster as your child grows. Although it's about $15-20 more expensive than the one you showed, it was well worth the money! Just my 2 cents!
I will second that bjorn is worth the money! They also make a cover that snaps to the carrier for cooler weather. It doesn't get cold much down south, but we actually used it, and Little Bit slept "like a baby".
Wanted to clarify...we got the metrolite travel system (regal print), and were very happy with it until the stork brought us our second baby girl. But, the snap-n-go is definitely an economical alternative.
I clicked on the boppy link b/c I LOVE the cupcake cover, and it took me to your registry. I loved looking at everything you registered for! Just wanted you to know that we were told by someone at the safety counsel that the Nautilus 3-in-1 seat is one of the safest "affordable" carseats you can buy, but it's only a forward facing seat, so it can't be used until after the baby is 20lbs and 1year old. Our Chipmunk outgrew the graco carrier before her 1st birthday, so we weren't able to use that seat.
We have a crib from Walmart, almost exactly like that! Only our friends babies have slept in it, but I love it!
So many good choices. How fun!
You will have so much fun picking out these special things for your baby girl when she comes.
But it looks like your off to a great start.
I just started researching strollers and car seats. I'd suggest buying the Baby Bargains book. It's sooooo helpful with product reviews from mommies everywhere. I'm probably going to write a post about my experience, but I think I'll ultimately go with a basic stroller frame for an infant carrier, then buy a real stroller for baby in abit. I dont like the travel systems b/c they're too big and bulky for my liking. I'm imagining carrying that thing in and out of my car trunk and dont want too much weight.
Also, check out this post for some helpful info on podcasts online that have helpful information for having an "alternative family" or so the author of the post says.
http://elusivebfp.blogspot.com/2009/07/fun-with-if.html
all cute stuff! Love the Rittenhouse too...such a cute pattern! It's a lot of fun to look, we are enjoying it too! So far we just have the bassinet, travel system and a ultimate baby wrap! That's all for now!
dont have babies. but have design experience. i LOVE the plaid-ish looking room. TOO cute.
What FUN to have!
I don't think anyone responded to your Angel Care Montior so I just had to say that I LOVE mine. It's a huge peace of mind but it does work too. I was terrifed of SIDS because I was an almost SIDS baby when I was 6 months old. Since no one really knows what causes it, and children born after one who did have SIDS have a greater risk, I wanted to make sure it wouldn't be something I'd have to worry about with my son.
While nothing bad has happened yet, my alarm has gone off a few times (usually because someone forgets to turn it off after taking baby out). I love this monitor and think it is totally worth the price!
Wow there is so much out there! I totally love pink and brown together! That room looks great!
love all your ideas its amazing how much we are alike. I cant wait to go shopping and looking for all the baby stuff how fun
We have a zooper single jog stroller, a BOB double jogging stroller, a stroller that fit our son's car seat (my daughter's hooks into the BOB). We also have a TREK bike trailer--spent a fortune on all of it and they were all worth every penny. Remember, if you follow all rules, your baby probably won't ride in the bike trailer until they can sit up on their own and wear a helmet. . . 8-12 months approx--so you can hold off on that for now. We bought a double seated one and sure enough--we got another baby--and it gets used all the time! You may spend more for the higher end stuff--but it lasts and resale value is pretty good too. You might want to check craigslist for some of your favorites. Pretty much everything we didn't use with our son has been a blessing for our daughter (like a jumper, the bjorn, exersaucer, etc.) Our daughter grew out of the swing so fast that it hardly got used. . . but our son was (and still is) tiny so he used it well into 18 months. If I didn't haul my kids to my house cleaning job--we would have never used the pack n play. Heck, we found one out for the trash so we have a smaller one for camping. Crazy what people throw away! Enjoy your shopping and buy now on sale, at garage sales, ebay and craigslist--while you still feel like you have some money! ;0)
Holy crap girl! I need to check your blog more often. We are in a very similar situation right now. I moved my blog, by the way. I don't know if I told you or not. I'm now at www.icanhazbebe.blogspot.com
:)
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