How many of you are shopping?
It is Mom to Mom sale time around here and at 20 weeks with the anatomy scan behind me.. seems like it is a good time to start buying baby clothes. I always end up with too much but well.. when are you starting the sleepers/jammies/onesies/ frenzy ?
DH has forbid me to buy anything else.... I don't think I did that bad:
1- one piece outfit for 3-6 months (winter and he will wear it right away if he is sized similarly to both DDs)
1- one piece shorts outfit for 6-9 months
1- shorts outfit for 6-9 months
1- pants outfit for 12-18 months winter, also with a sweatshirt
3- shorts outfits for 18-24 for next summer.
All was on super clearance and a 20% discount on top of that
I have also got the 'my breast friend' nursing pillow on craigslist for $20.
That is all. Nothing too crazy, right?
That being said, I have WAY enough clothes for each season up to summer 18-24 months (which my sister has not handed down yet). I have a car seat, crib, rockers, blankets, diapers, all of it...
I was thinking about getting small prefolds and covers for the first 2-3 months until my one size diapers fit, but I am still debating with myself.
I've bought some disposable diapers and one NB outfit. I plan on buying some more diapers, but not too many since we are getting a new washer and dryer (we've never owned a dryer) that will make it much easier to use my CDs. I'd like to get a bassinet, and DH wants to wait until later on. Inside I am screaming NO!!! NOW!!! Lol! I can't really explain it, I just have a strong desire to get everything I need in advance. I have baby clothes from my older kids and we don't find out the gender, so that makes it hard to clothes shop. Although I really want to! If I see something I love in either gender or gender neutral, I usually grab it. We want more babies and I buy everything at thrift stores, so it's cheap and it'll eventually get used. I've got all the big items, I don't need much of anything. But I still keep my eye out.
I have baby clothes from my older kids and we don't find out the gender, so that makes it hard to clothes shop. Although I really want to! If I see something I love in either gender or gender neutral, I usually grab it. We want more babies and I buy everything at thrift stores, so it's cheap and it'll eventually get used. I've got all the big items, I don't need much of anything. But I still keep my eye out.
I have 2 girls who are 4 and 6 and we were *supposed* to be done. I kept all of our gear and moved it to the attic but have next to _nothing_ for clothes. I have some rubbermaid tote with some onesies and sleepers I unearthed but otherwise everything was donated or sold.
We are huge thrifters around here too. Hence -I love Mom to MOm sales. A bunch of mom's (think 70 tables) take over school hallways and rent tables on Saturday Morning and you shop! shop! shop!. If you go before it ends, you can usually stuff a bag for 5 bucks. It is cheaper than thrifting.
I asked hubbie if he thinks it was too soon to start and he said he didnt think so -hence I am awake way too early planning to go before the girls get up, etc. I figure I might as well go over the next few weekends and then be done before the holidays set in. When I had the girls,it was fun going to Mom to Mom sales with them present - now the idea of dragging a 4 and 6 year old sounds like a discipline disaster :p "No Violet you don't need the little people princess castle.." "No Lia..we don't need the toy drum set" etc etc
I have a swing (http://www.snugglebugz.ca/ingenuity-portable-swing-briarcliff.html), stroller with an attachable bassinet(http://www.babology.com/category/brands.bumbleride.bumbleride_indie/), and a ton of cloth diapers (combination of those that I made, maybe 3 that I bought, and a ton that I was given). We plan to CD exclusively when we're home, but I intend to use disposables when I go out, so I have a stash of some unbleached, organic cotton disposables as well, which I've been hoarding in many sizes whenever I see them go on sale.
I also wanted to make sure that I had one of each category of carrier, since I plan to wear baby a lot, so I have a moby wrap, a ring sling, and a Pippalilly sling. I'd like a Baby Bjiorn as well for my husband but I'm going to keep it on the registry and hope someone gets it for us since it's so expensive. I'll reassess if we haven't received one after baby is born.
I terms of clothing, I have a variety of sizes (newborn to 18 months) of gender neutral things that I've picked up at the thrift store by my house over time, but I'm waiting for the anatomy scan on Thursday to find out the sex before I really get to the clothes shopping. I do have some concern that I'm going to go buck wild if it's a girl, but I'll deal with that as it comes :)
We accumulated an extra dresser, which I then painted, and screwed a change pad to the top (I made the cover), instead of buying a changing table.
I also have two nursing pillows (one that I made, the other I bought), as well as a breast pump.
In summary: we have a lot of baby crap. All that's really left is a crib, some clothes, and possibly a pack and play.
I have been buying a lot, well not TOO much but i didn't have much in the way of winter boy clothes since my other son was born in may - i am down to just needing a few items to have the newborn and 0-3 mo wardrobes complete.. then i'll wait to buy more 3-6 until i see how big he is and how warm it is .. my last baby was in 3-6 mo clothes by 6-8 weeks and my other DS was in some 12 mo clothes by 2-3 months (he was HUGE, not at birth - just grew fast) so i'm holding back on anything beyond the tiny stuff .. and i'm trying not to buy too much because i know how fast they outgrow it but i can't just let this one go naked for the first 2 months!
I ended up going this morning and it was wall to wall people. I got there "early" and probably 100 people were in line ahead of me.. seriously like Black Friday. Many of us were making jokes we were in line for the new iphone. I scored a snap n go stroller for 20 bucks but otherwise I left -extremely irritated.
Ill try again next saturday.
For those talking about newborn dipes.. I loved kissaluvs and prowraps. You can usually get them dirt cheap second hand and they hold up nicely.
Teles - love the bassinet stroller! I didn't know they made those. Pack'n'plays are pretty easy to come by at thrift stores or kid's consignment stores- they usually have half a dozen at any given time.
Yard sale season is almost over here, so I've been taking advantage of them while I can. Kid's clothes are rarely more than 10 cents to $1 each at yard sales around here - you spend a lot of time and gas driving around but if you find something you like it's practically free. A town 20 minutes north of us had a town-wide yard sale today and I got several things for DD, just one cotton terry sleeper for the baby (I'm kind-of picky and it's hard to find gender-neutral), a back-up car seat for my Mom to keep in her car ($5!), a baby tub for $2, and a nice lambswool/angora sweater for making diaper covers (50 cents).
I started shopping for used fitted diapers on ebay a couple months ago, figuring that if I started early and checked often I could come up with something pretty cheap. I actually managed to put together a stash of about 2 dozen infant size fitteds for no more than $3 each (including shipping). My trick is to look for the homemade or WHAM made diapers that still look well made, since many people are less likely to risk buying something that isn't name-brand. We have plenty of small (not infant) and medium fitteds from DD, but we were using prefolds with her when she was a newborn and decided it was worth paying a little more for fitteds - even for the short newborn stage, since newborn poos can be so explosive/runny.
For the most part we have what we need left over from DD, unless this one turns out to be a boy, and even then we're fine with clothes in the 0-3 month range since we were "team green" with her too. I've been keeping my eye out for a nice used car seat, since the one we had for DD has this really annoying puzzle-type buckle, but other than the buckle it was a really nice seat, and I have yet to find any that I like better. FYI, things to look for: sun shade that covers most of the seat or can be adjusted to cover the bottom part of the seat when the sun is coming in the back window really low (this is surprisingly uncommon!), handle that forms a "Z" or a triangle at the top is more ergonomic for carrying, and easily adjustable straps are a must for winter clothing.
I probably won't start buying stuff for awhile because that's how I am. As much as we are equipped with some baby stuff, still need to purchase big things like carriers, carseat, etc.
I've bought:
Carseats
Cribs
Nursing pillows
Bathtime seats
and
A Minivan!!! (I never, in my whole life, thought I would say that).
I still need clothes, bedding, monitors, a wall put up in my house, my kitchen painted, and some sort of swing or other entertainment thinggy. I have most of the baby stuff I need- tons of diapers, onesies, baby first aid stuff, etc. I got rid of all of DD's clothes (well,most of them) after we found out that DS was a boy because we were going to wait several years before ever having another. Plans changed, and now I wish I had all those girl clothes!
My friends advised me to get it all done before the third trimester. I've got most of the big stuff except the stroller and carseat now. Am waiting on clothes due to the shower being in January and some stuff coming from a friend with a 4 month old. Hubby has set aside some money each month for baby and we have tried to spread out the initial costs. So far we've been pretty well behaved. ;)
I'm heading to a mom to mom sale next weekend! and am very excieted
If i had my way, the crib would be all set up now lol but DP says we'll wait until January since he'll be in our room and we need the space for now
I was very excieted to find a My Brest Friend pillow at the thift store for only $5, and we found a whole Winnie the pooh crib set in amazing condition for $10 there too
I got a Britax cow print infant car seat for $125 on kijiji
My SIL and BIL are giving us their crib, bouncer and swing which is a huge cost so Im very happy to be receiving those
I saved all my 3 yr old's clothes thankfully! And Im having another boy, I do need some more 0-3month clothing since I gave them to someone when they were expecting, but still have a stack of onesies and sleepers
Found a video monitor on clearance for $75 at Canadian Tire
Had a car seat cover custom made from a handmade clothing store back in Ontario before I left that matches the car seat, that was only $30!
Since we're originally Toronto people, we got baby air jordans and a matching jordans baby outfit for a touch of back home too!
I'm one of those people that nests really early and feels the need to have EVERYTHING ahead of time to feel prepared, some mama's can even wait until after baby is born, im not sure it's ever too early
once we have all the baby essentials, then were going to start buying diapers when their on sale too!
I was very excited to find a My Brest Friend pillow at the thrift store for only $5
score!
i've been adding things to my amazon baby registry over the past few weeks, and have started buying little things like clothes, since i'm very picky. people like to say that the baby doesn't care what she's wearing... but i do. 
and american apparel has some fantastic baby clothes, which i've gotten. love the purple, which is a nice almost purple-grey color and is my absolute favorite. i am not a pink fan. i think because my mom forced me to wear so much when i was little that i've completely rebelled. bah!
got a boppy pillow, some nice organic long sleeved cuffed onesies, ordered the softest cutest newborn diaper cover i've ever seen in my life, some pacifiers and glass avent bottles. i'll be breastfeeding, but i think they'll come in handy.
still debating on which pump to get, but i rather do manual-medela harmony i think i'll go for-since i'm not a fan of foreplay with machines.
We are getting a bunch of second hand stuff, a lot of it for free, and some for discounted prices, from people we know who want to get rid of their baby stuff. So we will have a lot of the major things covered - carseats, stroller, highchair, pack n play, mattress, changing table, change pads, etc.
I hate making decisions on major purchases, that I've never bought before and don't have any experience with, so this will help out a ton. Then at least we have SOMETHING and we can figure out as we go along if we like them or want different things. I haven't actually went to the store and bought anything yet, but I do have a list of things that we will probably get by the end of the year.
I just got about 30 prefolds and 6 small covers from a friend to borrow. I already have tons of One Size diapers that we usuallly use from 3 months on, but I wanted to give cloth a try from the beginning. Super excited.
I also have enough clothes now for at least 2 years for this little man. while I am so so thankful, I do want to pick up a few newborn outfits. They are so darn cute!
i like tea collection, pretty grey/purple which is perfect but they are a little pricey for me. oh if i had the money to spend on baby clothes that she will outgrow in weeks. swoon
Thought I would top this. Is everyone feeling stocked up and prepared? I still haven't bought anything! Money is always tight around xmas, so I might wait til January to buy things... but then I'm worried I'll feel too rushed. We're pretty much good on clothes. But stuff I still need:
-boppy
-carseat
-bassinet or moses basket
-cloth diaper stash (still can't decide whether to go for it again-- we usually do prefolds and wraps for 6-9 months before giving up)
-supplies for homebirth (definitely getting these before too long)
-dresser or some other storage for baby clothes/diapers
-more swaddling blankets
-maybe a changing table? ours broke and we like to have one, especially one with storage underneath
-sling/wrap for the first few months, going to buy an Ergo later
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