My parents visit this week has kicked my butt into high gear because I was embarrassed by the state of our house, and because they were coming explicitly to help. Extra hands make for light work.

In the past three days we:

Called a Hauler. We needed to get rid of all the old, broken down furniture, including the stuff that had piled up in order to make more space for the baby. I’ve been dreading it, especially once I hit seven months pregnant and my mobility and energy were greatly reduced. Domingo and my dad were able to gather up everything that needed to go, so all I had to do was call around and find a good company and schedule a time for them to come out.

Purchased a Car Seat. I kept going back and forth on which one I wanted. I was pretty settled on a brand since Baby Bargains recommended it, but there are so many different choices – Snugride 35 or the Snugride 30? And they come in so many different colors and quality of fabric. But with only !!6!! weeks left until my due date, we had to make a decision. We ended up with the 30. From what I’ve read online, we’re much more likely to out grow it height wise than weight wise anyway, and since both Domingo and I are short, I’m hopeful it will last for a full year. It’s slightly lighter, which will make it nicer for lugging around, and ended up being $30 cheaper than the 35 before coupon.

Purchased a Breast Pump. Despite the Medela Pump in Style recommendations I have been getting from seemingly everyone, I was leaning towards the Ameda Purely Yours since Baby Bargins said the two brands were comparable, and the Purely Yours was much cheaper online than the Pump in Style. That is, until I noticed Babies R Us had a 15% off coupon, and reduced the Pump In Style’s price by $30 online! With coupon, the final price ended up being $229 – about $10 cheaper than the current best Ameda price I could find. I’ve been watching the prices of both pumps for quite a while, and $229 is about as low as I could hope for. Since we will need a pump soon, I decided to purchase now, rather than wait for a possibly better deal.

Picked out a crib. Kind of. The crib has become more of a necessity now that I’m starting to question the safety of sleeping in the rock n’ play. (The warning label says not to leave the baby in it unattended, and isn’t night time sleeping considered unattended?) I want to have the option to use the crib, if I change my mind about the rock n’ play. We went around to Babies R’ Us, BuyBuyBaby, and Target. Babies R’ Us and BuyBuyBaby had really heavy cribs that were big and bulky. They’re great if you like that really heavy look and feel, but I didn’t really want that. Target had cribs I liked and in my price range, but nothing in stock. I hate paying shipping for something that was supposed to be in stock, so I was pretty grumpy. Then it occurred to me that Amazon might have have a few that qualify for free shipping, and sure enough they do! I picked out four that I liked and added them to the registry. We’re about 10 days away from our registry completion discount code, so I will wait until then and get which ever one is in stock and ready to be shipped.

So what’s left? In terms of expensive items, there’s the crib (obviously), stroller, swing and Ergo. The Ergo and swing I think are low priority. I plan to use the rock n’ play initially instead of the swing, and possibly the Moby instead of the ergo for the first couple of months. I’ve read the newborn insert for the Ergo can be very hot, and it’s already predicted to be one of the hottest summers on record for our area, so we’ll stick with a lighter carrier for the first couple of months.

But that’s it. We’ll need diapers, wipes and clothes. We have no diapers! We do have seven newborn onsies, but I’d like to get a couple sleepers. Everything else is optional, or not needed right away. Boy does it feel good to have some major things crossed off our list!

Posted in Family Life | Tags: Baby Gear, Planning for the Future, Pregnancy - Zippy