It is hard to believe but we are almost into the third trimester for our second baby. It is amazing how different this pregnancy has been over the first, it isn’t every second about the coming baby and up until last week the only evidence around the house of the coming child was my wife’s increasing belly. As I covered in my last update we have only been prepaying for the doctor’s fees for delivery, at which time we had spent $599.43. Before I get into what we have spent since then I would like to talk about a few of the items you probably need for a baby. I say probably because everyone’s situation is different.
Baby Monitor – Unless you have a very small house and are never outside while your baby is sleeping you are going to want a monitor. You don’t need the super fancy motion sensing alarm monitor (we have that one) but just a monitor that works. At night they aren’t necessary because we are just down the hall, but we spend a lot of our evenings outside.
Diapers – There is now way around it, you need diapers. You can get disposable or cloth but babies poop and pee alot. If you are getting disposable diapers you can start picking up some diapers early I would get 1′s though and not newborn. The newborn diapers don’t usually last very long.
Crib/Bassinette – Aside from peeing, pooping, and eating, babies sleep. You are going to need a place for them to do that.
Bottles – You need a few bottles, even if you choose to breastfeed. Unless you are going to ALWAYS be around to feed you need a few bottles to fill with expressed milk for when you are away. If you are bottle feeding you need quite a few bottles of varying sizes. We had fancy bottles with like six parts and that sucked. We also had some cheap like $1 Gerber bottles, they were the only thing he would drink from for the first 1-2 months.
Receiving Blankets – These little blankets are awesome for swaddling unhappy babies, and they are relatively inexpensive so pick up a few.
A few things you don’t need:
Burp Cloths – You don’t need a bunch of fancy pretty burp cloths, but you do need something. We use 1 package of the thicker cloth diapers for burp cloths. The best part is when the baby gets older you can use those same cloths for cleaning around the house.
Wipe Warmer – Your baby is probably not going to like being changed, having a warm cloth on his bum isn’t going to make it better so leave it at the store.
Fancy Thermometer – Those fancy, and expensive, temporal thermometers do not provide the level of accuracy you want for your infant. Invest in a decent rectal thermometer that reads fast. While your baby doesn’t like being changed, they are going to hate having a stick in their bum even more.
Walker – My son never used a walker and frankly I don’t see how it could possibly help anything.
Diaper Pail – Poop stinks! But it stinks just as much in a fancy trash can as it does in a regular one. Skip the expensive container and just change the trash regularly.
Baby Detergent – I have sensitive skin, so does my son. But why pay a premium for Dreft when you can use All Free and Clear with the same effect. Skip the fancy detergent and use a Free and Clear, and to save use it for everyone in the house.
Shopping Cart Cover – If you just said a What? That is good. You touch these dirty things all day long, then your baby. It isn’t going to help to throw a peice of fabric from your trunk on the cart.
What We Have Bought So Far
Last week we started getting the babies room ready for it’s new occupant. We (meaning I) painted the room Jalapeno Jelly, it is a shade of green that matches a blanket we picked up from Target. With our first child we bought one of those $400+ dollar crib bedding sets, we spent a lot less this time around. I am a frugal guy but when it comes to baby furniture I am a firm believer in buying something that will last from birth till they get out of the house. To that end we buy convertible crib sets to use all the way up to High School Graduation. We really lucked out because my son’s crib got recalled and we got a rebate off the purchase of a new crib. My son is almost three and he is already in a full size bed so we didn’t have to get rid of the old one. Here is a list of what we have spent since my last update:
Comforter – $21.99
Sheet – $6.99
Bumper – $19.99
Blanket – $9.99
Crib – $399.99 – $369.99 Coupon from Recall = $30.00
Chiffarobe – $549.99
Dresser – $499.99
Medical Expenses – $149.99
Total Since Last Update: $1,288.93
Previous Total: $599.43
Cumulative Total: $1,888.36
So what do you think? Did I go overboard on the furniture?
Photo: (Jenn_Jenn)
