Mrs Jessup's Profile

It's just rather amusing that someone without the baby in the house yet knows what they'll need. I'm into the less is more group of folks too, but after having gone through a baby already and now expecting our second next week... well.. babies have a way of changing what you think.

I do hope you have the perfect baby life that you imagine. My first was not perfect. Acid reflux to beat the band, tongue tied, nursing issues... we nick named her "Dragon" because I swear the kid breathed fire and cried all of the time. I would have paid money for her to take a pacifier but she never would... which was nice in its own way but ...

And if you are "blessed" with the spit up champ from reflux, I should mention that the prefold burp rags at Cotton Babies website are a great choice and better than any other option out there. (other prefolds, other than Gerber, but REAL prefolds are all on the same line, that website just happens to have some the size of good dragon breathing burp rags).

Baby stuff will also vary depending on how much your partner is around to help. My hubs is gone a lot, so I single parent most of the time... the bouncy seat IN the bathroom is fab - can put baby in and keep her safe and still grab a shower or potty myself or... The big giant space eating swing is also amazing, especially the one that goes both directions (got this swing at a yard sale) because again, the dragon needs to be tamed in order to prevent tears from mom.

As we had to start over with second baby (totally over, thanks to a fire) we did learn a few things. Consginment stores are great. I don't need a high chair at birth - that can wait until 9 months or so. Same with the excersaucer .... BUT, we are prepared with a great Ergo carrier and got a used but great infant seat for the car. You might think that those carry out seats are silly, but if your baby is reflux, you'll fight tooth an nail to keep them asleep on the rare occasion that they actually are.

The best thing to have though is a lack of judgement of other parents - this is not a competition on who can go with the least stuff... it's about surviving the first year mentally in tact. If that space eating environment destroying contraption is going to do that, find it used and enjoy the extra sanity...