One of the more pleasant aspects of being pregnant is the cute baby stuff I get to shop for, and buy. Thanks to Rachel on my Facebook group, I found out about the Baby Bargains book that really narrows down what you need to buy, and what brands are best (hint: not always the most expensive ones). That's been a great roadmap for the shopping extravaganza.
Between this book, and my generous friends who have lent/given me a bunch of baby stuff, I figure we've saved a *ton* of money already. Which is good because a significant part of my maternity leave is unpaid.
Besides buying things from big-box stores and Amazon.com, I've been able to find some really cute handmade things on 1000 Markets and Etsy. One of my recent favorites is this baby sling from GorgeousBaby:
Of course, as an idealistic person with no babies yet, I love the idea of babywearing, but we'll see if BabyX cooperates. But the kimono fabric of this sling is just *gorgeous*, and it's well-constructed and padded, so I'm hoping it'll be a viable solution for both inside and outside of the house. I'm sure it'll take some practice. Maybe Spike will volunteer to be the sample baby :D
A few years ago, I met a friend for coffee and she had her brand-new baby with her. Since babies get hungry on their own schedule, and not when it's convenient, she had to feed him at the cafe. She had this cool thingy to use as a cover so as not to be exposed in public. I hope to be able to leave the house someday too, so I found this cool cover by nursing undercover on 1000 Markets:
She allows you to choose from a huge set of retro print fabrics, so I got mine in this very cool geometric pattern, and I love it:
I'm also having a hard time finding maternity shirts in anything but solid colors. I wanted something cute and patterned. But not ugly and muu-muu like, or nasty polyester, either. So I was thrilled to find Flaunt It! Maternity and this cute 100% cotton long sleeve T-shirt:
That's just a small list of stuff we've managed to acquire so far for Project BabyX, but I thought I'd share since they're just so pretty. Now I'm off to scour Craigslist for a good wood dresser for BabyX's room. Wish me luck!
I've used slings with both of my kids so far - the trick to it for us seemed to be walking once they were in there. We'd put the kid in, grab the dogs, and go for a walk. The movement seemed to put them right to sleep! :) After they were used to it, they'd settle down whether I was on a walk or not, and with the baby in a sling you have about an arm-and-a-half to do stuff with.
ReplyDelete@Stephanie - thanks for the tip. Going for a walk would be good for all of us, I think, esp since the dogs will probably feel like they're missing our attention when BabyX shows up.
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