Car Seat (PURCHASED - Thanks, Mom!)
If it's not already expired, the seat Lucy used will expire soon, so we'll need a new one. (The one Lucy used was bought for Neil.) I've got two car seats on the registry. They are both slim, which is important for fitting two car seats (and hopefully me) in the back seat of a car. The Baby Trend one has a more ergonomic handle. Each seat works with a double stroller on the registry.
Double Stroller
We use our strollers all the time. With two kids we'll need a stroller that will transport both of them. It would be helpful if our stroller and car seat were compatible because the car seat can just clip onto the stroller. The stroller that goes with the car seat is on the registry. I've found a used double stroller for $25 that I'm supposed to pick up today. I haven't seen it yet to know how good it is, but at $25, it's worth getting. We have found it helpful to have one stroller inside and one in the car, so we could probably use another one.
Feeding/High Chair
I plan to breastfeed. We have two breast pumps that still worked last time I used them, and I just found out that our insurance will pay for another one. We have bottles and nipples so that Matt can help feed. We plan to have him more involved this time which we're hoping will be possible because I have a better idea of what I'm doing this time. There are two things that I'd like to have to help with breastfeeding. First is a nursing pillow. I have a Boppy and a travel (inflatable) version of My Brest Friend (dumbest name ever!). The My Brest Friend does an excellent job of positioning the baby. The Boppy let her roll and slip. Anything that makes breastfeeding easier is appreciated. I'd like to get a regular, non-inflatable My Brest Friend and an extra cover so that I have a spare when they get dirty. Color and print are not important to me if they make a difference to price. The second thing we need is more bottles for collecting milk. I found that an angled bottle worked better for me with the breast pumps. Perhaps it's my poor posture. These bottles were used a lot and didn't hold up well to all the use, so we could use a few more.
We also need a high chair. With Lucy we used and are still using a space-saver seat that attaches to a regular dining chair. It's worked really well. Lucy is still using hers as a booster, and she's so attached to it that it would be best to get Emmie her own. If another color or print is cheaper, that's fine. We prefer something other than pink.
Clothes
We kept all of Lucy's baby clothes, so we have a lot, but we have a couple of needs. First, we didn't have enough Newborn-sized clothes for Lucy, so we may not have enough for Emmie. We borrowed clothes for Lucy. I don't know how big Emmie will be or how quickly she'll grow, but Lucy needed newborn clothes for at least a month. The 0-3 month clothes were way too big at first. I've bought one outfit that has a long sleeve onesie and footed pants. If we get a couple of footed sleepers and a couple of converter gowns, we'll probably be OK.
Our second issue is that Lucy was a September baby and Emmie is a May baby, so some of Lucy's clothes will not be seasonally appropriate for Emmie. For Lucy, 0-3 months was September to December. For Emmie it will be May-August, very different. I think I have pants, socks, cardigans/jackets, and both long and short sleeve onesies in every size because they are wardrobe basics for all seasons. I bought some 0-3 summer clothes on clearance at a second-hand store, so I'll need to look at what I've got to get a better idea of how much more we'll need. However, I put some 3-6 month clothes on the registry. I think most of Lucy's clothes are wintry, but Emmie will need clothes to transition from late summer to fall. I haven't put much on there because I haven't inventoried yet.
In short, I don't think we'll need a lot, but I'm not sure how much we'll need. I'll let you know when I inventory.
I also put a couple of micro-fleece sleep sacks on the registry. They work both for sleeping and, with a jacket, as a cover-up for going to the pool in cool weather. I've put several sizes on the registry.
We aren't necessarily picky about clothes, but we have some preferences about dressing our daughters. In case you haven't encountered our clothing philosophy already, here are some thoughts:
- We don't care if clothes come from the boys or girls section. Lucy likes Doc McStuffins, Elmo, and the Incredible Hulk, so she's got pajamas with each of those characters.
- Clothes don't have to be gender-neutral. Gender-neutral is fine, but we're not against dresses or clothes with a little lace or ruffle or bow. My personal style is not flouncy, so I'm not drawn to flouncy baby clothes (not that my kids are restricted to my personal style). Clothes can be feminine without rows of ruffles on the backside.
- We don't tend to buy pink clothes because we want our kids to try all colors and not feel color-coded by gender. I'm not anti-pink. It's just so easy to buy pink clothes and get pink clothes as hand-me-downs. If we're getting new clothes, we prefer to put in the effort to add some blue and red and green and brown to their wardrobes. Lucy's favorite color is green, but some days she chooses to wear pink pants; other days she picks brown. (She is very picky about matching.)
- We care about how the kids feel in the clothes. We prefer pajamas that snap because you don't have to undress a baby to change a diaper; you can leave the torso covered while changing the bottom half. I have seen pajamas that unzip from the bottom rather than the top, and those would work for us. We tend to buy clothes for comfort and function and consider style secondarily. We aren't opposed to cute clothes, but we don't put our kids in uncomfortable clothes no matter how cute they are.
- We expect kids to be messy. We'd like clean kids, but we know that most kids are messy. We don't tend to buy white clothes because they will not stay white beyond the first wearing. I try to keep them clean, but kids are messy. After only six hours in a white turtleneck yesterday, Lucy had gotten artificially-colored (orange) cheese, chocolate, and strawberry on it, even on the part covered by her jumper.
- Versatile clothes are appreciated. Converter gowns can be either gowns or footless pajamas depending on how you snap them. Rompers that look like dresses are casual enough for everyday but also work as dresses for church. Solid pants and shorts that can go with many shirts are good.
Toys
We don't really need a lot of toys. In addition to Lucy's old toys, Emmie will have Lucy to play with. Some of the toys are on the list because putting $50 of Fisher-Price toys on my registry entered me in a sweepstakes that would give me everything on my registry. Anything we're really interested in has been marked as having "medium" interest. I tried to focus on things similar to what Lucy really liked or that Lucy and Emmie could play with together.
Books
I put Dr. Seuss books that we don't own on the list. There are a couple of books on the list that we own but that aren't likely to be readable for long.
Diapering
We need some newborn diapers (not sure how many). If we don't receive any by mid-April, I'll probably just buy them myself when I find a good sale. We have enough size 1 diapers. We need size 2 diapers. We've found that Pampers hold a lot of urine. If Emmie is like Lucy and doesn't mind a wet diaper, they are more economical because we use fewer of them. If she hates sitting in her own pee (not a bad trait), we may have to use a cheaper diaper during the day so that we can change her more often. I also put some wipes on the list. The ones I put on there smell really good. Wipes don't have to smell good, but it's nice for something to smell good during a diaper change.
There are more things on the baby registry, but this is the important stuff to know about at this point. I may add some more things in case Fisher-Price buys me everything on my registry (wouldn't that be nice!), but the stuff I've mentioned in this post is most important.
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