Baby Gear

I know most mom bloggers do posts on stuff they love in the baby department. I love reading them, but I have never really talked much about baby gear on here too much. This morning when I clicked onto the internet, this article on yahoo.com caught my eye and I thought it was one to share.

Baby Gear: The only five items you need

It's a short article if you would like to read the whole thing, but essentially, the author gives her list of the only five things you need to raise a baby from the beginning.

On that list...

1. A carseat

2.A crib

3. Stroller

4. A bouncy seat

5. Baby bottles

I have to say, I totally agree with this list and only wish I had read it before I had OK. If anyone has shopped for a baby or baby shower lately, you would agree that the aisles for babies are overwhelming. I don't even wanna talk about the entire store for babies. When we found out we were pregnant, I was bombarded with advice on what I needed and wouldn't be able to live without. The reality, we didn't need 90% of that stuff you supposedly cannot live without and we're still breathing.

Don't get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for all the baby gear we received. I just hate that so many people spent money on stuff that OK never used or never cared for. Don't worry though, I've put it all up for the next one that comes along.

The only thing that I would add to this list would be a pack n' play. I honestly wasn't too sure how much we would use it besides on trips, but we use ours all the time. I like it to sit OK in it to play when I need her to stay in one place longer than a millisecond. I even pull ours out on our front porch for her to play in (instead of the concrete) and get some outside time in. Plus, it's come in handy for those few nights that she needed to be a little closer to mommy and daddy at night. I've even thought about getting a second one to keep in the car since she has never been one of those kids whom you can lay on a bed to sleep when your visiting a house without a crib. We use ours that much.

I know there are certain things that some babies cannot live without, like a swing or a carrier, but before you buy anything, ask around to see if a friend has one you can borrow to try out before you go out and spend big bucks for it. For example, a swing. We bought a small travel swing before OK arrived and she absolutely hated it. She refused to sit in it and would scream bloody murder if you left her in it. My friend Sheena has one of the deluxe swings that someone had passed down to her. She let me take it home with us to try out. OK ended up loving that one and we were able to find one used for the same price we had spent on the travel swing. It was a lesson well learned.

Another thing....buy used!!! Around our area, there are a ton of consignment sales and children's consignment stores to choose from. Babies grow up way too fast and something that you used everyday for a straight month, baby probably won't give a second look to it in another month or two. OK received a very nice exersaucer from her Nana and Grandpa for Christmas when she was three months old, it's now only May and she hasn't sat in the thing in over a month. She wants nothing to do with it now. Obviously, its been put up for the next baby, but still the point of the story is that they go through things fast. Following a piece of Duggar advice "buy used and save the difference."

The thing lately that many people have asked me about lately is toys. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard "we need to buy Olivia some toys for here" in the last few weeks. For right now, we are not wasting our money on toys. We honestly don't plan to start buying her many toys till this Christmas. Right now, she has a tub full of age appropriate toys and those are proving to be plenty for her. She is currently in that stage that everything but her toys are interesting to her. Her favorite "toys" to play with right now are safe kitchen utensils. I give her plates, bowls, cups, and measuring tools and she'll play for awhile. The other night we went to have dinner at David's grandparents. Since it's been a little while since there has been a baby in the family, there wasn't much for OK to play with and without thinking, I walked out without throwing anything in her bag to play with. So, what did I do? I sat her in the floor, took out anything that would make a mess, gave her the diaper bag and she spent the next hour entertained by pulling stuff out of the bag. Seriously, it was that simple. I have started buying her toys, but I've been spending my money on things she'll use for a few years. The other weekend, I bought a tricycle for $5. I know she'll get much more use out of this than the baby toys.

So, there are my thoughts on baby gear. Hope this helps someone that is is just as overwhelmed as I am when looking at the stuff.