Sunday, March 16th, 2008...10:04 am
Babies r me?
We did our first baby registry yesterday at Babies “R” Us (direct link to our registry here). It was very overwhelming…there are too many choices to be made when it comes to stuff. Also, the clothing section is terrible when it comes to boys’ and girls’ clothing. Everything is either little princess and ruffles or cars and baseball. The gender neutral stuff isn’t usually as colorful and is usually yellow. Ugh. We are probably going to register at Target as well but the baby blogosphere says that the new return/exchange policy stinks at Target and since we are likely to have to make exchanges, it makes us a little weary (so if you are giving gifts to anyone from Target, include gift receipts) . If you are giving us a gift, we are NOT opposed to hand-me-downs, handmade, or handy gifts. Also, our baby room theme is squirrels, robots, and monkey-robots.
I definitely feel like a clueless parent-to-be when it comes to getting stuff. If anyone has recommendations for stuff that is actually useful, that would be great. We still haven’t picked out any strollers, car seats, high chair(s), or an actual crib/co-sleeper. The breast pump stuff is still a mystery to both of us and we haven’t figured out the diaper thing yet–cloth vs disposable/chemical…any thoughts? The drought situation is pretty bad here but my gut says to stick with cloth until shown otherwise.
In other baby news, we go to our second childbirth education class today! We had homework that included describing our ideal (realistic) birth situation. Spelling the whole birth out makes me feel a little underused in this biological process since the Mom has to literally move her bone structure and I am there for encouragement and popsicles. Don’t penguins (?) have a better division of labor–the mothers hatch the eggs and the fathers sit on them? At our first class we watched a child birth video that involved the most calm, quiet couple to ever give birth. The father in particular seemed to be heavily medicated.
6 Comments
March 16th, 2008 at 10:23 am
i wish i could remember more clearly about all that baby gear, but my babies are all growed up now! when i see car seats, strollers, high chairs, diaper bags — they’re all so much fancier now than they were 12-15 years ago. breast pump: ask at the birth center, because i do remember that there’s one kind that’s much better than the other (basically, the more expensive, motorized one is so much easier to use).
i do remember that one of the birthing father’s important jobs was constant foot massages.
March 16th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Hi David - fun stuff!! The medela breast pump is the best. It’s better to have one with a motor than trying to use a manual one. I have a funny story about trying to get a ‘let down’ by using a manual pump, not appropriate for blog comments.
We had a fancy stroller that we never used. I liked carrying my kids around in the baby bjorn and slings.
We used cloth diapers and I recommend a diaper service. The day the clean diapers were delivered was my favorite day of the week!! There are a lot of choices for diaper covers these days, but I remember loving the Nikky wool ones.
March 16th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Stuff you actually need??? I’d say very little. It is amazing how quickly you don’t need the newborn stuff. The medela is supposed to be the best. I have one and the avent isis: http://www.target.com/Avent-Isis-Breast-Pump-Bottles/dp/B000HUENLK/sr=1-2/qid=1205709384/ref=sr_1_2/602-6115799-0435008?ie=UTF8&index=target&field-browse=1038590&rh=k%3Aisis&page=1
I actually preferred the manual one. It’s really small and I don’t have to pump very often - but I’m sure I’m the anomaly. You can’t beat the cost. You also might wait and see what you need. If Ellen isn’t going back to work right away it might not be worth getting the fancy one.
Ah… high chairs… we got ours out for Maggie and Hedy insisted on sitting in it. So we now have 2 of these: http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=534089&parentCategoryId=85181&categoryId=85205
It has solved the highchair battle.
Strollers are overrated unless you do a lot of walking. Babies much prefer to be held. If you do plan on doing a lot of walking then the investment is worth it.
I think I could go on and on… bassinet… we used it once. Bouncy chair… out grown in a blink of an eye. With Hedy we used the baby bathtub out of necessity - Maggie - we used it once. ExerSaucer - a must! I couldn’t make dinner without it. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/602-6115799-0435008?ASIN=B000BOKAKA&AFID=Froogle&LNM=B000BOKAKA|Evenflo_Wild_Thing_Deluxe_ExerSaucer&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B000BOKAKA&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001
I second cloth diapers.
March 17th, 2008 at 5:55 am
and of course, what I remember is prehistoric (or related to liz & jeannette) It does seem like you may have more use for a stroller/pram than a & j did since you do not live on the side of a steep cliff ! my main concern when jonah was born was the baby buggy rolling down hill . you should talk to friends in CH about various types - jogging versus convertible, etc. also, since you are having a baby in the south in the summer, i imagine that clothes will be a minimal concern before 6 months ! oh, and what about that very important zafu-type pillow that jeannette used for propping up jonah to nurse?
oh boy !
March 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am
oh… and the boulderites who do walk everywhere really like maclerans: http://www.target.com/Maclaren-Triumph-Stroller-Coral-Pink/dp/B000LXY6P6/qid=1205761560/ref=br_1_1/602-6115799-0435008?ie=UTF8&node=13539971&frombrowse=1&rh=&page=1
March 18th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
http://swissmiss.typepad.com/weblog/
This blog is tough to keep up with (12 posts in the last 24 hours!?!?!?), but along with the design and typography items, there are great kid/baby items.
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