J Lees's Profile

Thanks to everyone for all of the comments over the weekend!

I just wanted to do a quick Monday morning check-in and share some more thoughts.

Just to give everyone an idea about the couple-to-be's registry, it is 26 pages long and about 5 of those pages are just clothes and another two pages are sheets and blankets. They registered for two different bouncy seats, a bumbo chair, a kid-sized upholstered armchair, a swing, 2 playmats, and about one dozen baby Einstein toys. They live in a two-bedroom apartment, so their space is pretty limited when it comes to new furniture (baby-sized or otherwise).
They're undecided about how long they're going to breastfeed and don't plan to cloth diaper the new baby.
The mom-to-be and I were talking over the weekend about the upcoming shower and she mentioned when she started the whole registry process that she was really at a loss when it came to deciding what to put on it - they just picked up a price scanner and went at it. She also mentioned that they were at the additional disadvantage of not having any other close friends who had children, so there really wasn't a built-in pool of hand-me-downs and advice givers.
I think they registered for some fantastic gifts - like the Munchkin dishwasher basket for bottles, etc. - but I'm pretty sure they're not going to run the dishwasher every time they need a clean bottle, so in that instance I found a compact/collapsible drying rack that they can use to supplement those in-between dishwashing cycles.
I do know that even though the parents-to-be weren't sure what they initially wanted on their registry (it's been through a few incarnations over the last couple months), they took the time to choose the items that currently reside on it and I'm certainly not looking to completely disregard their choices. Having said that, I've spoken to some family members who will be attending on Saturday and definitely fell into the trap of picking out some gifts that I think will be swiftly returned (i.e., the mother-to-be picked out coordinating bedding/room decor and her mother-in-law picked out an entirely different bedding set because she liked it better than the one on the registry).

desertisburning - That's a great list, thank you.

You also bring up another good list - the "wish we didn't have" wishlist.

Posters - what did you receive that really missed the mark?

Hi eatoatmeal!
The parents-to-be wouldn't fall into the "planners" category and I'm hoping the fantastic Ohdeedoh readers can fill in some gaps in their registry items. Right now they really only have a set of washcloths (purchased by yours truly from their registry that I included in an apartment warming basket this fall). So they're really starting with zilch.
A quick example - they registered for a diaper bag that doesn't come with a portable changing pad included and they didn't register for one separately. Something along those lines.

Hi Catherine_g!
Thank you for your mom-to-be thoughts! I'm certainly trying to err on the side of caution and limit/eliminate the amount of scary toxic plastic-y stuff that somehow finds a way to creep into kids' lives (as well as superfluous "must have" items recommended by many registries).

The parents-to-be are definitely starting from scratch, so I was hoping to do a basket of "playing" or "feeding" necessities. The bottles they registered for are all BPA free and while they registered for some plastic/disposableosh toys I'm leaning more towards non-toxic wooden toys from companies like Haba or Kid O. I've purchased some in the past and they have been really well received.

CaseW - Duh! Books! All of the little ones in our lives received books from us this past holiday season so I can't believe I completely spaced on that idea.