Prepared for Baby...then Baby Happened

So I just read an article about The 10 Things You Don't Need to Buy for your New Baby, find the article here. This article got me thinking, about what would I have done differently or we are doing differently, since baby #2 is coming in about 6 weeks?  Where there things that we thought were must have's? Yes of course. Out of the most expensive things you can buy we actually did pretty well.

Changing Table/Pad

We didn't buy a "changing table", we just converted an already used dresser into one, by putting the changing pad on it. Worked out great but since we were so tall, we soon just changed our son on our ottoman with one of the best inventions the Patemm Pad! FYI, Patemm just turned 6! Till the end of July you can get your own pad for 20% off. Use code 6BDAY. This pad is great because it is ROUND not rectangle or square and it folds up into a square. Easy to clean and it eco-friendly. We love ours.

Crib/Co-Sleeper

 Meemaw bought us a crib from Ikea, above. I liked it when I viewed it on the web and I liked the price. It doesn't really fit through our house doors, so when we decided to move into our bedroom from the nursery, we found that it was a real pain to have break down and put back up again. Plus, I don't like how the bars are round. Our son is a mover and a shaker when he sleeps anyways, but I am thinking now, I should of found a crib that had flat pegs and he might of slept better. But truthfully, he has been sleeping with us since he was brought home from the hospital. The only time we use the crib is when he naps. But this would of been solved if we bought a co-sleeper pad that fits on our bed, so he would be safe from falling out. I found one at one of my favorite sites Franklin Goose.

Humanity Organics Family Sleeper

Still wondering how it work sleeping at night and movement but it seems to be a good idea. We are looking forward to breaking the crib down. With Baby #2 we have a borrowed bassinet but we will see how it works out to co-sleep with both of them.

With regards to co-sleeping, I have so many of my friends and even family that have not heard good things about co-sleeping. We made our minds up to co-sleep after doing research on attachment parenting and then making an educated choice. If you want to learn more Google attachment parenting or find parents that co-sleep, there are more out there doing it than you think, then make up your own mind after you feel you have been educated on both sides.

Stroller (Double)

We bought a stroller, Phil and Ted Sport with the doubles kit, above. Found it on a great site called Pish Posh Baby. We knew we would have more kids soon so this was a logical and small footprint of a choice. I had known other mothers that had double strollers that barely fit through doors and even through isles of stores. PRO: I wanted one that was easy to move around but could fit two kids and I could manage to afford. We will soon find out how the doubles kit fares. CONS:  Just from looking at the stroller I don't know if it will work out to have an infant and our son in the stroller but to be honest we rarely but our son in the stroller until he could hold his head up.CONS: The break is pretty had to engage and release. I am ex-college basketball player and can easily lift and carry things, most men should. So finding that the break is hard to use is not speaking lightly. One good thing though, once that darn break is engaged, it is engaged!

What I would of done different?

BOB Revolution Duallie Stroller, found at REI.com

Now I wish I would of looked at the Bob (found at REI or Bob Gear) I have had a few friends that rave about their Bob. Go test drive it at your nearest REI!
Or another option:
 Bumbleride double strollers. The features seem to be right on with what we would need and narrow enough to fit into places that some strollers don't. I think both would be nice to have now that we have two coming.

2010 Indie Twin from Bumbleride

Sling/Carrier/Wraps

I don't know if we are sling/carrier incompetent, but when I say we I mean me, but maybe my husband wants to be included on that. We have tried a handful of slings. I don't know if it is because we are so tall (6'0 and 6'4" respectively) but slings just didn't seem to work. We knew we wanted to have our son near us at all times and a car seat/stroller option just was not in the cards. Everywhere we went, he was carried by us in some sort of fashion. After trying out a few slings we went to the carriers. We tried the Baby Bjorn but found that we could not hold him very long before both our backs started to hurt. Plus, to me, if I had privates and gravity was in play and I had to sit ontop of a small plastic piece, I would not be very comfortable. Our son never told us differently. He seemed to like it.

The next thing we bought was the Moby Wrap.

I think we bought this a little to late since our son was already 6+ months and he was just a little mover. I think this wrap is perfect for newborn in the "4th Trimester." They are close to the parents heart and swaddled which are two things that soothes newborns.You can find them anywhere, Target, Baby R Us, but also online. A great place to shop for anything baby it Diapers.com or Diaper Junction.

Our current carrier is the Boba Organic G2.

I have not been able to try it since I am well into my 3rd trimester, but my husband has twice. The great thing about this carrier is it is more erogonomical for the child to sit. Plus it comes with foot rests so the babies/child legs are not hanging and pressure is created. Boba also has extra inches of height to keep the parents center of gravity closer to your body and support to give more support to the babies/childs back. Our son is still getting used to it, since he loves to explore with his new found walking talent. But we think it will be great once the other baby comes. One baby in the Moby and our son in the Boba. We got our Boba at another great place for baby Franklin Goose.

Diaper Pale/Diaper Caddy

We received one as a gift and by now (1 year later) we don't use it. One- we went to cloth diapers, well Hybrid cloth (GroVia). We can either use cloth inserts or disposable inserts (biodegradable in 100 days). If it is a poopy diaper, we either flush the waste or take the disposable insert out to our garage. If you know me you know we live in a very hot summer climate so you might say, well that will make your garage smell of dirty diapers. I would have to say, we have not experienced that as of today. Our garage still smells like a garage.  We also went to cloth wipes. We found a local woman who makes them, so our waste is pretty much rare. We love our cloth wipes. We still use eco-friendly disposable wipes when we are out and about. We used to use Natures Babycare Fragrance Free wipes. PRO: Very absorbent and thick. CON:  if you don't put them in a warmer or another carrier, we would get 2-10 wipes at a time. It was hard just to get what you need so we ended up using more than needed or stuffing the unused back into the package. We now use Seventh Generation Wipes, which you can find most anywhere but I purchase mine from Diapers.com (free 2 day shipping over $49). I like them because we get out what we want to use. They are eco-friendly and clean up messes very well.

Things We Don't Buy New Anymore

Having baby #2 on the way, and soon to be living on one income, we have come to realize that there some things that we just don't need to have be new anymore.
              #1 Toys- We have found that the best toys are things around the house. Our son loves pots and pans and basically anything else that we find that is safe for him. The toys we do have were either given to us or we go to a second hand store and stock up. But really, the best thing is just the interaction with him and us. Our house is not overran with toys and it will stay that way.
              #2- Clothes- It is nice to get new but then reality hits. 50% or more of our sons cloths were worn once or never worn at all. It is nice to get things from the Grandparents but I have even let them know that if they find sale pieces or second hand, send it our way.
Second hand all the way, or if I find a good deal online at my favorite deals and steals websites. Babysteals and Kidsteals has one steal a day. When the item is gone it is gone. Most pieces are over 50% off and are high quality, must have items. Zulily, Totsy and bTrendie, you have to sign up to access their sites. I have ordered a few things off of these sites and the order takes a little longer to get, but is well worth it.  Babysteals, Kidsteals, Zulily, Totsy or btrendie. Kids outgrow clothes so fast. Why spend full price on something? Find a great second hand store or even better, consignment sales.

Wel, hopefully this shed a little light into the maze of things to buy, things to not, things to wait and see, things to really research. Being a parent is an amazing experience so take each moment as they come. Everyday is learning experience, isn't it.

Can you REALLY afford Cloth Diapers?

What a great write up. 

Take a look and make the decision yourself. 

The Daisy Blog did a great write up to help answer this very question. Click here to read on.

4th of July Weekend= Free and huge discounts....

Everyone, well most everyone, loves when they get something free or at a nice discount. Have fun with all these giveaways and sites that are offering great discounts over the 4th of July weekend! 

Sip some lemonade, take in some sun and save a little!! The sites I have put up are some of MY personal favorites. Feel free to pass along all these great offers to your friends, family and anyone else who might take part in some great savings.

Happy searching, shopping and saving.

With a $10 purchase, depending on your order number, you get a freebie. These are going fast. Take a look at the site, you can find anything you need. Great place to know about! Click here.

Zulily.com is offering some great discounts on their sales right now. Haba toys, Feather Baby, Bumkins and a ton more. Find disounts which make your bank account smile!

Plus, starting Monday July 5th they are having a huge sale that starts at 9AM Pacific/12 PM Eastern.  Lots of great items to choose from *very* limited quantities- up to 75% off! AND, a special "Just for Girls" event featuring 60% off a few of our favorite brands including Little Mass, Baby Lulu, Young Colors & Greggy Girl. Click here to go to site!!! 

Tropical Traditions has some amazing products, with everything from just coconut oil, household, pet and skin care products. They are offering a great discount to use until Wednesday day July 7th. Click here to get the code and to shop.

Do YOU or a friend Love Fuzzi Bunz? Well The Cloth Diaper Whisper Blog is offering a few cute colors, in honor of this 4th of July weekend, their current giveaway for Fluff Friday (button to the right,too). So many ways to enter this fun giveaway and they do it every WEEK! Add to your stash or win a brand you always wanted to try out. Click here to go to details. 


Want even more discounts? Head to The Cloth Diaper Whisper Blog the discount code at a cute shop online called Kellys Closet. You receive 15% off any order of 99$ or more. Huge savings and you will be amazed at the selection at Kellys Closet.  Get the code here!

This is another great site for your cloth diaper needs and much more Diaper Junction Starting today,  Saturday, July 3, 2010 to Monday, July 5, 2010, you will receive FREE SHIPPING on orders of $25.00 or more! Be sure to use COUPON CODE: HAPPY4TH at check-out!

PLEASE NOTE: The FREE SHIPPING will not be honored for previous or pending orders; orders must be placed between July 3-5, 2010, excludes full size detergents and diaper pails

Also, on Diaper Junction site you can get 10% on Rumparooz until August 31, 2010. I have not tried this style but they are supposively suppose to be 100% leak proof.  Click here to get code.  

 Giveaway- click here to enter the Cloth Diaper Blog, Feed Your Stash Fridays (button to the right too). This week you are going FLIP! Win 2 Organic Flip diapers, you choose the colors. Entering is easy and also fun. FEED YOUR STASH. Click here to enter.

Monkey Farts...for the bath....who knew

Out and about the other day on the web and I came across a product that would make any bath fun. I have not personally used this product, but plan on having my son test it out very son. The product is called Carvel County Crayon Soup. The soup does not contain sodium lauryl sulfate(SLS) (learn more about SLS here)  The Monkey Farts scent is a combination of bananas, bubblegum, kiwi and strawberries. You can find this and all sorts of other fun products at Everything Eco or click here. 

This company is out of Canada and they only provide products from retailers that produce products that do not harm the environment. They include organic items that are from the best resources and even many recycled products. Their items are unique and make perfect gifts.

Enjoy your Monkey Farts and whatever else you find!!

Some cute things at Zulily! Current Sales end June 29th!

If you want a great deal you better act fast. Zulily is offering some very cute items! You have to become a member to access the sales. Check out some of the items which are 50% off or more!  Disclaimer, just because I show them on here, does not mean your size will be available once you log in. Act fast, the current cute sales are ending June 29th. Click here to go to sales.

Bees and Dragons Boys $24.99 (originally $42.00)

Express Arts Monkey Polka Dot Body Suit  $17.99 (originally $30)

Jen Jen Sundress $27.99 (originally $52.00)