Registry tips

This blog is really taking off!
I am LOVING the Target talk- both poetic and cuponic- Keep 'em coming!

These are the tips I've collected that are baby-registry related... in case anyone is going through this again or has friends that are having their first. I found tips very helpful when I was going through it- navigation of wedding and baby registries can be tricky!

Registry/baby stuff:
-Don't buy clothes. Don't buy clothes. Don't buy clothes. Everyone told me this but I still got anxious (The shower is close to the birth and I didn't want to be unprepared!) and bought clothes. People LOVE to buy baby clothes (and toys) so just register for the specifics and necessities, then buy what you still need after your shower. (Our hospital sent us home with about a week's worth of newborn clothes anyway, so being caught without clothes for our newborn was never even a possibility.)
- Put the brand of diapers you want on your shower invitation- this was the best advice I got! For my shower, anyone who brought diapers was entered to win the “Fantastic Door Prize,” and well, everyone brought diapers. Pampers Swaddlers are the absolute best money can buy as far as I’m concerned.
-Don’t get a ton of toys yet- baby can’t use most of them for at least 6 months
-get things you’ll actually need/use like detergent, nursing supplies like bottles, pads, a pump, pump parts etc., bottles, wipes, wipes, wipes, pee pads for the crib and your bed and anywhere else baby is, some newborn size clothes (but not a lot,) and pacifiers.
-Register for or buy yourself bibs with button closures- not Velcro. The Velcro can scratch baby and makes laundry difficult as it scratches up your other laundry unless you want to take the time to separate it every time. (You do double the laundry with a baby that you do now- and do it more often as it is stinky!)
-DON’T OPEN YOUR PACKAGES OF DIAPERS BEFORE BABY IS BORN –you don’t know how long your baby will fit in newborn- being able to return/exchange the unopened packages is
great and saves you money/provides you a gift card for things you find you need later.
-Don’t waste money on more than 5ish “receiving blankets” for swaddling. Use them as little blankets and seldom to swaddle as babies wiggle them loose in a minute. Instead buy the swaddling blankets by The First Years- 3 fold with Velcro- stays On. Swaddling a live baby (as opposed to a doll) in a receiving blanket is pointless
-Receiving blankets that you buy to use as blankets should be at least 35” by 35” Smaller is useless- no matter how soft
-Do get a wipe warmer- warm wipes don’t make a baby cry- cold ones do
-Diaper Genie II is awesome- Not the original
-The Sleep Sheep (or any other noise [ocean, heart beat, and shushing sound] machine) is
Wonderful to get or keep the baby asleep the first month. The breast pump left on to dry the Tubing works well too- soothes baby every time. After one month- Vibration (a bouncy, vibrating chair or, even better crib attachment that will let baby sleep in the crib/co-sleeper)!
-A glider is also awesome- relaxing, movable seat for both for baby and mommy
-remember the baby changes so much in the first few weeks. Some tactics used to soothe baby will work week one, others week 2, others week 3 etc.
-Stock up on AA and D batteries. For some reason, baby stuff doesn’t seem to use C or 9V batteries, and very few AAA.
-Get one (or two!) vibrating chairs. (We were lucky enough to get one from Maureen.) They are called Soothing Vibration bouncers and made by Fisher Price… around one month of age you won’t be able to put the baby down unless it is in one of these. Also, if you can find it, get a vibrating attachment for your crib/co-sleeper. They usually have music and a night light attached. Dunno why, but the babies LOVE the vibration. All my mom friends told me this- and I should have listened from the beginning!
-If you live in the LA area, the Mattel corporate headquarters are in El Segundo. They have a toy store on the first floor where everything is retail price, and if you bring an employee of Mattel and cash you get 50% off of store prices. We got a $52 mobile for $11.44. They have all the Fisher Price stuff- bouncy seats, pottys, mobiles, swings, activity centers, high chairs, tons of toys for kids, and most of the Fisher Price baby stuff that anyone would want. Inventory changes every week (usually it is new lines/items that are just about to go into stores). If anyone wants to go, let me know as I know a few people who work there!

Hope this helps!

Helpful Hints

These are the tips I've collected for Pregnancy that I wish someone had told me. Some we've all heard, but not listened to... but mostly they're just about the little things that would have been nice to have known and will help next time go more smoothly.

PREGNANCY:

-Get a lot of rest
-Remember that the first trimester is the most important for baby’s development
-DON’T buy maternity clothes that you can’t breastfeed in. (if you plan on breastfeeding) Make sure the shirts/tops/dresses have buttons or low/stretchy V-necks- or else you’ll have to buy a whole new wardrobe after the baby is born! May as well get double use out of the maternity clothes.
-One day when you have the energy, go through you closet and separate out the things you can nurse in later- it is easier now then when you’re holding a newborn and leaking milk all over.
-If you buy nursing nightgowns (nice to have a couple- especially nice at the hospital
when on your second [or third] day being able to wash your face and put on something that isn’t a hospital gown will feel Really good) buy darker colored ones because when your milk leaks (which it will) it stains the heck out of anything white or light colored. The first few days, your pre-milk/colostrums is dark yellow… you’ll have dull yellow sunny side up sploches over both breasts- and then your father in law stops by to visit…
-Collect free samples at your classes, the OB and through the mail
-Read all you can, but be aware that much of the stuff is printed by the baby industry/formula manufacturers etc. so be wary of breastfeeding info printed by formula companies etc.
-Sign up at Pampers.com and all other formula and diaper websites (Similac, verybestbaby.com, huggies, babycenter.com, babiesrus, Enfamil etc.). Coupons, coupons, coupons- free diaper bags and free samples! Yay! They come in the mail and are great. Even if you don’t use the formula, you get great articles, coupons, and can give the formula to a friend or day-care center.