Last weekend the sweetest ladies of my life came together and showered Baby Scott and I at the cutest, chillest baby shower. It was baby game and pastel free, didn’t involve embarrassing me or my husband and pizza and pasta were involved…….so yeah, my mom and sister are officially the best party planners around.
With a whole bunch of sweet things now filling my closets for Baby Scott and a plan to round out the necessary items from my registry soon, I thought I’d share with you what I registered for and HOW I did it. But first, a few pics from my bridal shower…..
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BABYLIST.COM
With my particular preference towards online shopping, and no desire to wander through baby stores aimlessly scanning things just because it’s on a shelf, I knew I wanted to find the right way to to register for things online. I also knew no single vendor was going to have all the different things I was interested in, so I was thrilled when I found Babylist.com (not sponsored or an ad, I literally searched to find something like it). Babylist.com allowed me to add a button to my browser and for any website that I was looking at and found something I liked, it allowed me to add that item directly to my registry on their website with a click that is very reminiscent of the Pinterest type functionality that exists. This meant I wasn’t limited by retailers, and could pick out all the things on smaller boutique websites I wanted to and have it all added easily to my registry. What was also nice about the website was that once I had added an item, it would automatically search for it at other retailers including amazon to check the prices and show my guest list the best place to buy it at (UM AWESOME).
The one drawback? It had said it would give me a registry discount at the end, so I assumed that would apply across all the items I had selected, regardless of where I had originally selected them from – but unfortunately this was NOT true and I only was offered a discount on the items that were directly added from their website. If I had taken more time to comb through their stuff maybe this wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but again because I was mostly utilizing the fact that I wasn’t limited to retailers, this proved to be a major bummer. Thankfully BuybuyBaby was super cool about this and accommodated me to honor their registry completion discount (which is 15% your entire purchase btw and totally AMAZING).
THE THINGS I’VE INHERITED AND RECOMMEND
Having an older sister with three kids proves to be wonderfully helpful when you start to have little kiddos of of your own. Not only does she have all the info on what I need and don’t need, she also was gracious enough to pass down some pretty awesome things that made it much easier for the hubs and I to figure out what we wanted/needed for a registry. A few things I didn’t register for because she already gave it to me (but I still definitely recommend):
This portable sleeping/chilling/everything unit is great for nap time just about anywhere, tummy time, and keeps baby snug as a bug. Really helpful if you travel, or visit mom’s house on the weekends. Serious life saver.
Another item hailed as a lifesaver, this swing unit imitates motion for baby that is similar to the womb or even a parents arms, plays calming sounds, and is another great place for baby to chill out during wake time, or perfect for a little snooze. Even hospitals will use these. Definitely a bit of a splurge and in the luxury category but worth considering if you’ve got some extra funds.
Another great unit for mama’s on the go, these can be used in your own home for a safe place for baby to play or nap (with the dockatot inside its great!) while you get ish done, or great for trips for snoozing, diaper changes, playing, you name it.
Ok, I know what you’re thinking, another place to put baby down?! Why?! So obviously you don’t need all of these things, and again because I’ve inherited some of these I’ll have the luxury of options and you have to decide where to spend the monies and what you’ll actually use, but I’ll still tell you why this is nice to have. It’s another chair for baby to chill in if you need your hands free, and its super light and portable to bring to you room to room, plus another safe place for baby to fall asleep.
Since baby monitors are pretty much crucial, this one is great and a great price, and easily portable for trips.
Baby slings are a beautiful thing. They can really sooth a baby as research has shown the positioning of the sling can mimic their position in the womb, and if you’re grocery shopping, on-the-go, again just moving around your house and want baby close, this is awesome to put baby in. Also, if you’re out and about and don’t want everyone touching on your babes, which sorry call me anti-social but this is totally me, its a great way to have baby with you without the invitation for everyone to be all up in baby’s business.
THE REGISTRY STRATEGY
With all those goodies as a great basis to start, I wanted to be sure going in to my registry that it wasn’t full of a ton of extra “stuff” that would just fill up space, because believe me – the baby industry is FULL of CRAP that you don’t need, though they will try to convince you of otherwise (just go look at a wipe’s aisle, its absurd). I knew there were still a few essentials to put on the list, and because I knew I’d get a registry discount at the end, I put on some of the pricier items we wanted just so I could get the discount at the end of the day (not expecting anyone to get them for us). We were also mindful of where we wanted to splurge vs. save on stuff which really helped to balance things out. And with most of the stuff, we choose gender neutral not only because we don’t know the gender of Baby Scott, but also because we plan to use a lot of this stuff for our babies to come (especially the pricier things) and don’t want to have to rebuy.
Also, for a few of these items (particularly if they were prone to baby…fluids or for the diaper bag) I registered for two so one could be in the wash, or because I wanted to have ones for Mom AND Dad’s diaper bags so we don’t have to switch all the time and forget something. Which brings me to another point, if you’re planning on having more than one baby and are lucky to be able to do so, think that through as your planning your registry, again primarily for the pricer/bigger things, but also for the smaller. I’ll go more into this in another post bc it’s a whole other topic, but that’s part of the reason we chose the stroller and carseat we went with (so much info on strollers though I’ll be writing a post about that soon!).
Alright enough of that…. here’s the other items I registered for.
UppaBaby Vista Stroller (more to come on why we chose this one)
Tubby Todd Everyday Lotion, All Over Ointment & Hair and Body Wash
Halo Swivel Bassinet (for the first few weeks/months when I need baby right beside me but not in bed)
Changing pad Pack of 2 (one for mom diaper bag and one for Dad’s)
Organic Cotton Changing Pad Cover
Vegan Backpack (as my “cool mom” diaper bag)
White Onesies (bc I’m slightly convinced these will be mostly used)
Not entirely exhaustive but most of the goods!
Have any questions for why I registered for something or why I DIDN’T register for something? Comment below!
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