I knew I wouldn’t get the baby gear 100% right the first try. As a first time mom, I was bound to overlook something, and each baby is unique. What works for one may not work for another. What I didn’t expect was how much my personality would change. Domingo was sure my days of price checking and discount shopping would be over once the baby came. I didn’t believe him. Yet here I am, not only paying full price for a few baby items, but expedited shipping to get it here as quickly as possible too! I even signed up for my first (paid) subscription to Amazon Prime, something I thought I would never do. Waiting to get things on sale is just not always an option anymore.

New Stuff I can’t Live Without:

Moby Wrap
My original intention was to go to the store with Nicki and try on the Moby Wrap and K’tan to see which wrap worked better for me. Then Nicki started getting colicy and I started getting desperate. I sent Domingo out to the nearest store to purchase the Moby in whatever color they had. I didn’t even want to wait the 24 hours to get it at a discount from Amazon! And you know what? Worth. Every. Penny. I can reliably get Nicki to sleep when she’s over tired by wearing her. It’s great for baby and great for mommy too.

My only complaint is the Moby takes some time to get wrapped into. We’ve had a few instances were Nicole was not particularly patient with how long it was taking Mommy. The K’Tan is better in this regard (or at least so I’m told) but since it’s not a one-size-fits-all, I couldn’t send Domingo to the store to purchase one for me. I will get faster with the wrapping. Mommy promises!

Dr. Brown’s Bottle Warmer
If you had asked me about bottle warmers before Nicki was born, I would have said it was a big waste of money. Now I just have two words: life savor. Warming up bottles under the sink certaintly works, but when you’re waking up every two to three hours to (1) pump, (2) change baby, (3) feed baby, (4) clean pumping equipment – having one less thing to think about is invaluable. Now if only they made auto cleaning breast pumps… And auto-cleaning babies…

On a happy side note, breastfeeding is getting easier!

Less Useful than I would have Predicted:

Aden + Anais Muslin Swaddle Wrap
There’s nothing inherently wrong with these blankets, they’re just much less useful for us then I was hoping. It seems like I’m the only person in the universe who doesn’t love them. We were told to skip the cheap 43′ x 43′ size ones and go straight to the 47′ x 47′. But the 47′ squares were a bit too big for swaddling Nicki initially, and she stopped liking being swaddled before she reached two weeks old! I still do like these blankets as general receiving blankets. They are great for our house which tends to be on the warm side, especially in summer. I just wish I had ordered the slightly smaller (and much cheaper) ones instead. The small blankets woulds would surely last us until winter.

Just watch, my next baby will want to be swaddled until 2 years old and I’ll wish they came in 55′ square versions!

Where my Expectations were off:

Remember how I thought 18 onesies were enough so I wouldn’t have to do laundry more than once a week? Turns out babies poop a lot, and poop stains! We also can shoot through five outfits on a given day, not just two or three. We go through our wardrobe about once every 5 days (and that’s with the new onesies Grandma brought!) but we’re doing laundry daily.

Along a similar vein, 10 burp clothes is not enough. They disappear too easily. We’re now up to 20. I originally wasn’t overly found of the Gerber Trifold Diapers since they’re a bit bland and not cute. I thought about getting some cute burp clothes for when we go out. Well I’m a total convert. They work great!

In terms of diaper bags, I thought we could get by with just a generic tote bag since we had the Skip Hop Pronto Changing Pad. I still think that would have worked, had we not been introducing the bottle. I now want something with an insulated pocket to hold the bottle. I’m still not much of a bag person, and certainty not a fashionable bag person, so I went with a nice black inexpensive bag. I ordered the Graco Optimo Duffle Bag for $36 including tax and shipping. We’ll see how I like it when it arrives.

I also want to mention that having the same brand breast pump as the hospital uses went from nice to awesome when I accidently dropped breastsheild connectors on the hard tile floor and cracked it. Luckily I got one in my accessories kit from the hospital, so I didn’t have to run out to the store!

Posted in Family Life | Tags: Baby Gear