Hellobee

…well, I suppose, I could register today, but this poor little guy I’m cooking is likely going to inherit all of his big brother’s baby gear. But of course, because this pregnancy has me nesting like a mad woman, my late night lack of sleeping abilities leads me to Amazon more often than I’d care to admit. If I were registering for my first baby (and I were blessed enough to know what I know now, after surviving the baby stage once), here is what I would register for:

1) Graco Pack n Play  |  2) Fisher Price Snugabunny Cradle Swing  |  3) Fisher Price Rainforest Bouncer  |  4) Fisher Price Luminosity Rock n Play  |  5) Chicco Keyfit Infant Car Seat  |  6) JJ Cole Car Seat Cover  |  7) Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat  |  8) Baby Jogger City Mini GT  |  9) Baby Jogger City Mini Double  |  10) Ergo  |  11) Boba Wrap  |  12) Maya Wrap Ring Sling  |  13) Summer Infant Touchscreen Digital Monitor  |  14) Marpac Sound Machine  |  15) The First Years Tub  | 16) Honeywell Humidifier  |    17) Ubbi Diaper Pail

Baby Containing Devices:

Who knows where your baby will like sleeping in those early days? My first LOVED the swing, and we didn’t use a bouncer. Now though, I know I’ll need other options for places to contain the baby (and protect him from the crazy toddler and 50 pound dog…) when I’m not wearing him. If we have a spitter like last time, I know the Rock n Play will be worth its weight in gold as a makeshift bassinet (and I love using it to help get baby dried off post bath as well). This time around, I’ll keep an inexpensive little bouncer in our bathroom for my sanity, and I will likely use the play yard for actual play and not just sleep while traveling (if we were intense travelers beyond just to the grandparents and back, I’d likely splurge on a higher end travel crib, but a Pack n Play is more than fine given our minimal travel with it).

Getting Around:

Whether you’re driving, strolling or baby wearing, baby needs a safe and cozy containing device. For car seats, we loved and will use the Chicco Keyfit again (with a cover, since we’re having a January baby), and eventually we’ll move up to a Britax convertible. Because I’m having a winter baby, we will skip a snap n’ go this time and stick with a full stroller that can handle the elements. I’ve included the single we have and the double we will be getting since this is really a second babe and not a first. And while I enjoyed baby wearing with my first, I expect that I’ll rely on it even more this time around. If I were doing a “do over” with carriers, I would register for a structured carrier, a wrap and a ring sling, since they would ideally be gifted to me and I could experiment and learn my preferences as well as my baby’s for wearing.

Other Gear:

There are a smattering of other great items worth registering for that fall under “gear.” Here are the items that we relied on heavily first time around (or would upgrade to if given the chance for a do-over). We loved the Ubbi diaper pail, since it is essentially a stainless can and requires no fancy refills (and they have great customer service if you have issues). We also had a great experience with our Summer Infant video monitor (although if I were tech savvy and could figure out how to set it up, I would go the wifi route instead and get a Foscam). We started with a bath bucket that we loved, but ended up switching to a cheapie plastic tub that worked beautifully for months. When sick baby season hits, it’s great to have a humidifier ready, and I love this “germ-free” option. And of course, we could not have survived sleep-wise without white noise. Last time, because we had them on hand, we went with an iPod dock and an old iPad, but this time around, we would register for the Marpac DOHM.

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What other “gear” items would you register for, if you were doing it all over again?