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Baby Gear That Will Last For Years – Plan Well and Spend Wisely

Posted by andthenthey on February 5, 2014 2 Comments

I’ve been mulling over this post for a while.  I’ve been trying to come up with some of the things that I would tell newly pregnant friends that they must have.  There are so many things that go into making choices when it come to everything, but it seems especially difficult when it comes to baby gear.  Probably because you get it all at once.  While working on this post, I came to the realization that our main criteria was definitely whether or not the baby would grow out of it quickly.  If we felt like it wouldn’t last for at least the first year, we tried to find another option.

And Then They - Baby Gear That Will Last For Years, Plan well and spend wisely  A list of things to buy for first time parents

I don’t think we were consciously thinking of this, but it was definitely a selling point if we could see the usefulness of an item for quite a while.  Obviously, borrow things from friends where you can, or buy used gear!

So, here are some of our recommendations:

And Then They - CribMini Crib:  While this doesn’t sound like something that will follow your baby into childhood, this is one of the best things we bought.  While it is (as its name implies) smaller than a regular crib, many mini-crib models can be converted into twin beds.  Some full size cribs can be converted into full size beds, but that doesn’t make sense to me.  Knowing the size of my daughters’ rooms, a full size bed wouldn’t be very useful.  They will eventually need twin beds, so might as well buy something when they are babies that can work for that.

I know that one of the draws of full size cribs is that they often convert to toddler beds.  I can understand the convenience of this, but not the necessity of it. As of today, Alma is still in her mini-crib.  She’s over 2 years old, and was just about 3 feet tall at her check-up last month.  She fits comfortably, and I think she will for quite a while.  She hasn’t been able to climb out of the crib, either.  I imagine when we’re ready to move on from the crib, we’ll get a twin mattress, and put it on the floor for a few weeks or months, then bring the head and foot board in to make it a real bed.

And Then They - Two in a Mini CribThe crib we bought for both girls is the Da Vinci Emily Mini.  It comes with a “mattress” that is about an inch thick, and not suitable for sleeping in my opinion.  Da Vinci also sells mini-crib mattresses, so we got those too.  They also sell a converter kit to make it into a twin bed, but as far as I can tell, it is just a long 1×4 with another ledge attached.  I think we will DIY this when the time comes.

And Then They - ErgoErgo:  There are soooo many different kinds of baby carriers out there.  I’m sure there are other great ones, but I really love our Ergo.  It has carried us (ha! that’s a pun!) from teeny tiny newborn, to full on baby, into toddler-hood and we’re still going!  We also have a Moby, but I use the Ergo much more.  The infant insert was great for when the babies are super small.  My favorite carry for when Alma got bigger is the hip carry.  It’s great because Alma can see everything, but she is still cuddled up next to me.  It’s also nice to throw the baby on my back (as seen above) for a longer walk.  I’ve even put Alma on my back like this, and had Harriet in the Moby on my front at the same time.  Pretty great if you ask me.

Convertible Car Seat:  Oh man, car seat shopping was the most overwhelming part of baby gear buying for me.  I went on Consumer Reports, made spreadsheets, read forums online.  Holy cow.  I knew this was an important safety decision, but also quite an expensive purchase, so I wanted to make sure we’d be happy with it.

We went with a Britax convertible seat.  This basically means that the car seat works from the time your baby is a newborn, until they are huge.  They can be both rear, and front facing.  They don’t come in and out of the car like infant only car seats.  This wasn’t an issue for me, since I always had the Ergo.  I do have to say that we got to borrow my nephew’s infant car seat for Harriet, and we really appreciated the convenience of it, but we have already switched to the convertible for her.  It got to be way too heavy once Harriet got bigger.  So, if you can borrow an infant seat, go for it!  I just don’t think it’s worth the money so buy two car seats when you can easily get by just buying one that will last for a few years.

And Then They - DiapersCloth Diapers: This is our biggest money saver.  For sure.  We did the math when Alma was a few months ago, and after buying 18 diapers (our magic number), we had them paid off (in terms of what we would have spent on disposables) in about 3 months.  Can you even believe that?!  We could have kept our child diapered for only 3 months with what we spent on buying cloth diapers!  Even with the extra laundry (one load every 3-4 days for us), they are way cheaper than disposables.

I know there are lots of other great reasons to use cloth diapers (environment, health, cuteness, etc) the money was really what sold us.  But they are pretty damn cute!

[Also, you can expect to see a longer post on cloth diapering and how we do it coming soon!]

And Then They - High ChairTripp Trapp high chair:  To fully understand the genius of this chair, I will refer you to the Stokke website.  This chair grows with your child.  The seat, and the footrest are adjustable, so when they grow, you can just lower it.  This allows your kids to always be able to sit right up to the table, have proper posture, and have a firm place for their feet.  The most important thing to me was having out kids at the table with us.  Dinnertime is important to our family.  Harriet is already sitting in her Tripp Trapp at our table, even though she’s not eating solids yet.  I like that both kids are right there, part of the family, not off to the side.  Clean up is easy, too.  We just wipe down the table or place mat.  I love it.

There you have it!  These are my favorite ways to save some money and spend wisely.  I have lots of other recommendations if have any questions.

What are some ways you saved some money or made some decisions when it came to baby gear?

[Note: None of these companies asked me to write about them.  They don’t have any idea who I am or that I wrote this.  These are all just my opinions that I thought I would share with you.]

[Another Note:  Check out what I have to say about stroller shopping here!]

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Posted in: parented., parenting tips and tricks | Tagged: babies, baby, baby carrier, baby gear, baby gear list, baby reccomdations, bum genius, car seat, car seat reccomendation, children, cloth diapers, ergo, high chair, Life, mini crib, Parenting, pregnancy, reccomendations, saving money, tripp trapp

Sleeping/ Sleep Training/ Sleeping?

Posted by andthenthey on January 13, 2014 4 Comments

New babies love to sleep.  It seems like that’s all they do.  So why are parents of new babies so exhausted?  New babies have some weird, mysterious way of sleeping just enough that the look like they are always asleep, but waking up just enough that their parents get no sleep at all.  It’s just the way it is.  Tricky, sneaky babies.

Luckily I no longer have a new baby.  My baby is an old baby, which means that I get to do the tricking.  I have successfully tricked her into taught her to sleep through the night, and to have pretty regular and kick-ass naps (are you kidding me?  Right when I typed this, I heard Harriet wake up…. damn hubris!) during the day.

My main advice in all things parenting is to not read any books, or if you simply must a book, please, please, please only read one.  Books are notorious for giving conflicting opinions and making you think you are doing things right, while simultaneously making you think you are killing your child.  Yuck.  My second piece of advice is to never listen to advice.  It only messes with your head.

If you want to know how we trained our daughters, I will refer you to this blog post.  I know some people think it is mean to sleep train babies in this way.  I would say to them that it is mean not to, but I’m not going to say that.  It’s just what I would say.  But I’m obviously not saying that.  I’m not trying to start any ‘mommy wars’ here, just trying to share my truth and reality.  If you don’t agree with this, feel free to close the browser, or tab, or phone, or what-have-you.  I’m not trying to change your mind, just trying to share what worked for both my girls.  Besides, if you feel strongly that what I did is wrong, your mind will never be changed, now will it?  Nope.  And anyway, that is totally not the point of this post.

Co SleepingThe point of the post is to deal with my feeling after having sleep trained.  I love that Harriet has learned this amazingly important life skill.  I love that Jesse and I were able to teach her this amazingly important life skill.  I have no regrets as to how or when we sleep trained both girls.  I am confident in all of this.  I am proud of this.  I am proud that Jesse and I are able to teach and guide our kids.  I am proud of my daughters for taking this small, no huge, step towards independence.

With Alma, we had her in bed with us every single night until she was four months old.  I loved sleeping with her, and being able to nurse her whenever either of us wanted to.  I loved the connection and cuddles.  But I was so ready to move on to the next step when she turned 4 months old and we got the go-ahead from our pediatrician.  I don’t remember feeling sad to have her out of the bed in those first few weeks.

With Harriet we had her in the co-sleeper, up against our bed every night until she was about 4 1/2 months old.  I loved this, too.  It was great having her close enough that I could nurse easily.  I loved being able to hold her little hand while we slept.  I loved hearing her little baby noises, and watching her little baby breathing.  Again, I was so ready to move on to the next step.  But, this time I have been a little sad in the weeks that followed.

Maybe it’s because she’s our last baby.

When I go to bed, and turn off the light, it takes me forever to fall asleep.  I don’t know if it’s that I miss the white noise of her breathing, or the nightlight that is now in her room, or something more visceral.

All I know for sure is that it is called sleep training for a reason.  Harriet seems to be trained, but I’m still learning.  I guess that is what it means to be a parent.  And that can’t be found in any book.

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Posted in: gave thanks. | Tagged: babies, baby, children, Daughters, kids, Life, life skills, night, Parenting, sleep, sleep training, sleeping
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If God said, ‘Rumi pay homage to everything that has helped you enter my arms,’ there would not be one experience of my life, not one thought, not one feeling, nor any act, I would not bow to. -Rumi

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