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2nd Trimester
FirstTimeDaddy81
member
Baby Registry Nightmare
FirstTimeDaddy81
member
Did anyone else feel ridiculously overwhelmed trying to put the baby registry together?
I'm typically the supportive husband. I try to do whatever I can to be the rock for my wife and make sure she has the food/medicine/emotional support that she needs during the pregnancy.
But visiting stores to put the baby registry my frame of mind went from "my wife's pregnant, I need to take care of her" to "holy shit, we're actually going to be responsible for a tiny human in 5 months!". On top of that, there is so much shit at those stores! Not only are there 50 different things we need to get, each one of those things has 50 different options!
I left the store feeling like I now have PTSD.
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Re: Baby Registry Nightmare
GSUDavis. That would probably make it a lot easier.
Even just trying to pick out a stroller, I'm thinking "well, we'll probably want a jogging stroller in case my wife wants to go for a run around the neighborhood with the baby. But if we take the baby to the park, and the baby falls asleep in the car, we want to be able to take the car seat out of the car and latch it in so we don't have to wake the baby up to put it in the stroller."
So then you're looking at the carrier that latches into the stroller, how easy it is to latch and unlatch. I still don't get whether that carrier has a base that stays in the car that it can latch in to and out of. Does the base get purchased separately from the carrier? Are all the bases compatible? Plus you're looking at how easily the stroller can break down and how much room it will take up in a closet when we aren't using it.
IT JUST MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM!!!!
Do you have any friends who've recently (last few years) had children? I found asking my friends about things they bought and whether they recommend them or not to help me narrow it down. I also got some great advice from the people on my BMB.
Since we already created the registry, my wife's just going to give the login info to her sister so that she can go online and help us put it together. She has two kids so she has a much better idea of which items we'll actually need.
If we go back to Baby's R Us, we're going to be bringing a mommy with us that can help walk us through all the different options when we're trying to figure stuff out.
I started all of mine online first. then went into store. I agree that online is much less overwhelming because there are categories. I then had my sister and friends look over it to make sure nothing was pointless or overkill.
A few weeks later I went into store and shopped around. Having done it almost all online to start with helped narrow down what I was looking at in store. I knew I had to look for a glider in store and then I made an effort to look at the pieces I had initially registered for online to see if I still liked them. I made a few swaps this way and it was less overwhelming!
I agree Babies R Us was not my favorite. I love Buy Buy Baby! It is so much easier to navigate and the selection is much better both online and in store. Still I have a super tiny registry (10 items or less) at Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids for things that Buy Buy Baby didn't have or where the prices were drastically better.
DHs cousin is having a baby and I browsed her registry thinking about what to buy for the shower. OMG, it's filled with junk she doesn't need and multiples of it! I wish she had asked for advice :-) I ended up returning over $100 worth of piddle pad type things, stroller covers, etc. It is insane what those lists think you need :-)
If you think you'd be happy with a jogger most of the time then you could get a snap and go (most of those are interchangeable-Graco/Baby trend, but definitely read a review first). They are $50ish new but you can find tons of them consignment, garage sales, or craigslist for $20-25. So if you need to buy one on your own I'd do that. It will suffice until you are done with the infant seat, which we only used until 8ish months because the girls cried on our 4 hours trips to visit my parents until they were moved to convertible seats.
Yes, there are bases that you buckle into your car, usually using latch, and then you just snap the seat in. Each seat comes with one and then they are usually about $50 if you need a second for another car. You can also install an infant car seat with the seat belt, you don't HAVE to have a base but that takes a bit more effort.
Following a minimalist list is a good idea! The only extra cluttery thing that I LOVED was the Ducky tub by Munchkin! I randomly got it for my shower and almost returned it. My kids freaking loved bathtime in it :-) Ours popped after 3 years, it's the only thing I'm re-buying for baby 3 :-)
Good luck!
I will let you know what I think about the stroller/car seat, just to give you one opinion. First of all, yes, you buy the base and leave that in the car. We have 2... one for my car and one for my dad's (son's primary caregiver). Trust me, this is soooo much easier than removing a newborn from the car seat every single time, especially if he/she is sleeping. Much easier to bring the baby in the house still strapped into the carrier. Then, you can slowly and comfortably get him/her out without having to do it quickly while standing outside. Not to mention that it's easier if the baby falls asleep while you are on your way to the store.
We have a travel system, which is the type of stroller that the car seat snaps onto. (Ours is Chicco.) This was super convenient when our son was tiny. It really made everything much easier. The stroller by itself was also great when he was a little older, but it is big and bulky. It really only works well in certain situations, and doesn't really work on anything but hard ground (doesn't do well on grass or dirt). We flew to Florida when DS was only 9 months old, so we decided to get a good lightweight stroller (we ended up going with Mamas & Papas). This has been awesome! DS is 4 now, and we still use the lightweight stroller a lot. This is definitely the best and most versatile stroller we own. Oh, and we do have a jogging one as well. We ended up getting this one for free. Even though it is also a little big and bulky, I like it for things like county fairs (the big wheels work really well on grass, dirt, and uneven ground.) As you can see, it is pretty crazy.... I mean, we have 4 just for one kid! (We also have a cheap umbrella one that came free with a purchase at BRUS.) My dad has a couple more at his house! But we just kind of accumulated them over the years. If I had to choose only one for some reason, I would definitely choose the lightweight one, but that one doesn't work until the baby is old enough to sit up comfortable on his own.
Good luck! I will say that it does get easier. You will figure out what you need over time, and it won't seem so overwhelming.