The Great Registration

A couple weeks ago, my mom and I headed to the Babies 'R Us (conveniently located down the street from her house!) to officially start our baby registry. I had already narrowed down all the big things (stroller, car seat, sleeping arrangements) through a ton of online research (and review reading) and through the handy Baby Bargains book. This is a book I probably would have never even thought existed or thought to look into, so I was really glad my boss gave me a copy a couple months ago. It has been invaluable when looking into not only how things work (because frankly I had no idea what the difference was between a convertible and a hybrid car seat!), but what features are really necessary (and they seem to be pretty candid here) and how people can waste their money. They also review the common brands and provide real feedback about cost v. benefits and users' comments. I highly recommend this book for all first time parents.

Now, we are doing a few things different from what 'most people do'. First thing, which I believe I've already talked about, is we are trying to stay in our current place until we can buy our own place hopefully in a year or so. This means that we don't have a baby's room to decorate. Right here, we are saving a TON of money. Second, my friend has already offered to let us use her crib, which we have happily accepted. So when the time does come, that expense is already take care of. With a few choice pieces of furniture that Brad's parents got us when they were in town visiting in August, we now have plenty of storage space for the new baby stuff in our own bedroom (having a 'college dorm bedroom' still (i.e. not much bedroom furniture) really paid off ;)

Diapers are going in the lime bins, diapering 'essentials will go in the lime plastic tubs and the changing station will be on top of the lower dresser.

Here's a shot of one of the other dressers. There's baby blankets in the deep drawer and all of our stuff is in a matching lower/wider dresser under the window to the right of this wall.

Because of the space issue, a lot of our baby choices have been simplified. Things either need to be compact or need to be multi-functioning. The 'bassinet' will be a play pen (I mean, 'Pack 'n Play - see the things you learn! ;) Not only can we use the top as a bassinet that will sit next to our bed when Lloyd first comes home, but once he is bigger, we have a portable play area that we can take with us or use in another room once we have our own place. There will also be no highchair, but rather a convertable booster chair, that sits in a normal dining room chair and converts to a toddler booster seat when he's older. The activity center can be used for back and tummy time while little and a play mat when older - plus folds down like an umbrella vs. most of the others that need to be stored sideways.

The other thing that is different, is the amount of things I'm making. I'm making burp cloths and blankets and bibs, so most of those things could be avoided. I've already linked to several of the things I've made, but the latest (bibs and shoes) can be seen here. I'm also making most of the crib accessories (bumper, blanket, ruffle, etc.), so again, more things missing from the registry. We also already have the diaper bag thing handled as well as slings (although we did register for a basic Baby Bjorn for Brad) and a nursing cover. Given all these things, you should see the list of 'missing items' they printed out when we were done! It still makes me giggle.

But despite the simplification, the registry process was very overwhelming. Not only are neither my mom or I big shoppers, but the selection of each type of item was overwhelming. For example, I knew going in, that I was going to add some Dr. Brown's baby bottles to the list as they have come highly recommended by a couple friends of mine who have used bottles to give them some freedom with their nursing. However, what I didn't know what that there were many sizes of bottles, many sizes of nipples and many cleaning and drying accessories. There were starter packs, but since I plan to do most of his feedings by nursing, our needs will be different from someone who is feeding a baby exclusively from a bottle from birth. I haven't read anything about any of this yet, so I had no idea what we might need. We are planning to take a nursing class and I'm sure a lot of that information will be discussed there, but for now I'm in the dark.

Fortunately, despite the overwhelming nature of the experience, I think we came away with a good list of things to get us going. And regardless, at least we now have the list of 'needed items' in one place for our own reference if nothing else!