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trombonishThis weekend I finished scrubbing the walls in the ex-kitten room (to be baby room). Several weeks ago we took out the kitten gear and linens, and pulled up the tarping we had over the carpet. Tarping (semi-miraculously) prevented any noticable carpet damage. Only noticable damage is by the door where the tarping didn't quite cover, and kittenoids clawed the carpet. But considering the room housed (often less than box trained) kittens for a year, almost 2, I am pleased at the status of the carpet.
The walls were a different matter.
Let's just say, kittens have a certain "splash radius". Particularly goobery kittens, and in the corners where catboxes were at various times. There was grubby pawprints and unmentionable goobers to about 3 ft up the wall around the whole room.
It took some elbow grease, but it's all cleaned now. For the record, google will autocomplete "how to get cat snot off the wall". This was rather reassuring that we're not the only ones with this issue.
So the room is clean, except for the randomness dragged back in there by me (tomato starts) and our cats (random fabric bits). That, and facing the fact that I am feeling Increasingly Pregnant, and we're finally starting to look at baby things.
This is a process that will take a while. I have buying-things issues. Particularly new things. Though I know it needs to be done and I will face/deal with the doing of it.
We braved our first baby store on Saturday. Except it ended up being less baby store and more "baby/mommy boutique". It was a little traumatizing ($200 maternity jeans, anyone?)
I've researched a number of additional stores to brave in future weekends. We are not yet in "buying mode", more of aclimatizing the pregnant lady to baby stores. Wonderful Woggyhusband is patient and understanding of my buying-things trauma.
So... any recommendations for stores? Indispensible baby items? Items to avoid. I will soak up advice like a sponge!
The walls were a different matter.
Let's just say, kittens have a certain "splash radius". Particularly goobery kittens, and in the corners where catboxes were at various times. There was grubby pawprints and unmentionable goobers to about 3 ft up the wall around the whole room.
It took some elbow grease, but it's all cleaned now. For the record, google will autocomplete "how to get cat snot off the wall". This was rather reassuring that we're not the only ones with this issue.
So the room is clean, except for the randomness dragged back in there by me (tomato starts) and our cats (random fabric bits). That, and facing the fact that I am feeling Increasingly Pregnant, and we're finally starting to look at baby things.
This is a process that will take a while. I have buying-things issues. Particularly new things. Though I know it needs to be done and I will face/deal with the doing of it.
We braved our first baby store on Saturday. Except it ended up being less baby store and more "baby/mommy boutique". It was a little traumatizing ($200 maternity jeans, anyone?)
I've researched a number of additional stores to brave in future weekends. We are not yet in "buying mode", more of aclimatizing the pregnant lady to baby stores. Wonderful Woggyhusband is patient and understanding of my buying-things trauma.
So... any recommendations for stores? Indispensible baby items? Items to avoid. I will soak up advice like a sponge!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-17 12:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-17 05:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-17 01:16 am (UTC)Don't know where you live but a bicycle-style wheeled stroller was really great as well.
A million smallish flannel blankets, which are so useful as spit-up rags, shoulder protectors, play areas on the floor, and swaddlers.
Ball caps and boonies for hot weather.
A small blender or food processor for pureeing the stuff we were eating so that the baby could eat it, which cut down on having to buy baby food.
Yeah, you can spend about as much as you want to. You're right to avoid the stupid-expensive stuff!
Good luck! Mine are teenagers now; how did that happen???
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-17 08:37 pm (UTC)And then there's simple playpens that I like more, like this: http://www.joovy.com/p-100-room-playard.aspx
But I'm wondering if the plain ones are "comfy" enough - which one was yours more like?
Also, maybe this is a regionalism, but what is a "boonie", as in ball caps and boonies?
Thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-17 09:00 pm (UTC)I would not have needed one with wheels, etc. If we were outside and it was sunny and the baby needed to sleep we just draped a blanket over the top of it.
Sorry -- a boonie is a hat with a large floppy brim. LIke a sun hat but crushable.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-17 06:51 am (UTC)We bought nearly everything secondhand except for the carseat/stroller combination and did not regret any choice. In a lot of cities there are baby/child consignment sales in the spring and fall, and often these have better prices than the regular consignment stores, especially if you pay attention to the sale days. I think most of ours might just be local but I know Just Between Friends is in lots of places so if you're looking for a place to start googling that's a good one.
The thing it took us the longest to reach parity on was burp cloths, just because if there's not one right there it doesn't matter how many you have stacked up elsewhere. Luckily they're cheap secondhand and eventually I had stacks next to every piece of furniture where my wife was likely to nurse her, as well as in the car and both diaper bags and... you get the idea. If you're cloth diapering, it's also good to have more diapers/inserts than you think you'll need, just in case.
It's good to have a few different sizes of onesie ready, too - we didn't think the size difference between "newborn" and "0-3" was that large until were put her in a 0-3 onesie in the hospital and it seemed huge, but we know people whose newborns went straight into 0-3 so it's hard to predict.
Check out your regular thrift stores ahead of time and you'll easily get a sense of which has the best pricing on baby clothes. For us, it's Value Village. Between them and Once Upon a Child's sale rack, we never have to spend more than $1 on a onesie.
Once Upon a Child is a chain like Plato's Closet for used kids stuff. Their prices are not usually the best but their selection is very reliable for a used store. We have a couple of other used/consignment kids shops in town, and before the baby was born we went around and noted which ones were best for which things. We bought the crib on Craigslist, just made sure the one we were buying listed the brand and so we could check for safety.
There are also several local FB groups for selling baby/kids stuff and one for 'mamas helping mamas' where people sometimes offer things for free. My wife is really into babywearing and is in a group for 2ndhand carriers, too. If you want to wear the baby, make sure you actually try on a number of carriers because which is the most comfortable brand varies depending on body type. We're much happier each having our own carrier because everything doesn't have to be re-adjusted every time. Something like an Ergo or a Mei Tai is good for lots of walking around, but a ring sling is great for quick errands. Some people find ring slings very comfy and wear them all the time, though. Something like a Moby wrap is nice with a very young baby, but Cori outgrew it by about four months. It seems like a lot depends on your preference and the baby's, so you might want to wait, or at least wait on investing in a pricey one, until your child is in a position to express an opinion.
As far as toys and equipment goes, we've mostly been very reactive about what we buy, because one set of parents will swear by a swing and another by a playard or whatnot, so for example we actually took the baby to consignment stores when she was about a month and tried out swings until we found one she was happy in. We'd rather spend the time looking for what makes her happy when we need it than buying a lot of things in advance. My wife takes her to play groups and things where she gets to play with lots of toys, and we use that to gauge her interest in different things before we buy them. In our case, the large sideways-swinging swing was the only style she liked, and a play mat with dangling chiming toys was the best way to keep her happy before she started crawling, but I feel like YMMV.
The two things that we didn't see recommended anywhere but we loved once we found them were baby legwarmers (the largest brand name is 'baby legs' but I've seen non-brand name ones secondhand) which are great because you can keep the baby's legs covered but still be able to change the diaper, and "sock ons" which were the reason we didn't lose a single baby sock.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-17 09:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-18 06:41 pm (UTC)After the failed babystore attempt last weekend, I did find a local baby/kids consignment store nearby, we're going to try it out next weekend. They say they have huge sidewalk sales once a month for clothes that they won't accept for resale but people donate anyways, it's like 25c. apiece. It's next weekend so I figured we could look at that and also their regular prices/selection. I'll google for Just Between Friends and your Once Upon a Child too.
Love the advice to test-drive swings and toys before buying! I keep hearing that babies get really opinionated about swings vs bouncers and you never know which one to get ahead of time.
Did you do cloth diapers? Woggy's willing (which is most important, as he'll be the primary caretaker), and I am in favor in theory, but it seems so very complicated! Inserts and cloths and shells, I don't even know.
We're hoping to try lots of cariers/babywearing, it seems a lot simpler than the alternatives. I have MANY MANY fabrics so I'm just going to make a number of the cloth carriers and see how we do before branching out into structured carriers. We're waffling on stroller complexity besides carriers, but I think it would be nice to have one for going on walks.
Thank you for the big advice post! It's just the sort of thing I was hoping for, Woggy has parent type friends!
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-18 08:18 pm (UTC)We theoretically do cloth diapers, but I had surgery a couple weeks back and can't laundry right now so we're trying to minimize how much my wife has to do in the evening. We also don't exclusively cloth diaper - when we're out of the house or overnight just when I am low in cope we will also use the "disposies."
We bought our cloth diapers largely secondhand and mostly use the kind where you just put a plain cloth diaper on the baby and then a waterproof cover over the diaper, but the all-in-ones or the ones where you tuck the insert in are definitely easier. Because of the secondhand-ing, we have a variety. As she gets older and more inclined to try to climb off the changing table, I'm liking the fancier ones more because I can pop them on her like disposables.
You might also have a local company that will bring you clean diapers and take away your dirty ones. We do. I priced it at one point but decided against it, but if we still lived in an apartment without laundry I totally would have gone for it. XD
After her first poop until she started eating solid food, washing the diapers was pretty easy. Once they get on solid food, the poop diapers are a little more work but they're manageable.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-17 08:52 am (UTC)Keeping in mind that my friends are, ahem, crunchy of a certain sort, but they all swear by washable cotton-y slings rather than things like the Baby Bjorn padded nylon stuff. Turns out slings are stain/spill magnets.
(The second-hand advice you got above is also good.)
(no subject)
Date: 2015-03-18 06:52 pm (UTC)