Hellobee

Baby P is due in about 3 months, and we’re finally starting to think about what we need before he arrives. Our first two boys were born less than 2 years apart and we welcomed them home to the same house, so we didn’t have to buy much when Little P arrived (except for an excessive number of matching outfits, of course).

Since then, we’ve moved and given away a lot of our baby stuff. We always knew we may have a 3rd baby but most of our baby stuff was bought used or gifted to us as a hand me down. After 2 years of using our (already used) stuff day in and day out, we decided not to hold on to most of it “just in case.” I’m also bravely attempting to take a more minimalist approach with this baby and only buy the things we absolutely know we need or will use frequently. Here is my current list:

1. ROCK AND PLAY ~ I honestly feel like this is a must have baby item. Both of my babies slept like champs in the rock and play, and I did not feel bad using it whenever needed. We used 2 different rock and plays with our babies, and both were hand me downs. When Amazon was offering a discount code a few weeks ago, I went ahead and snagged a new one for Baby #3. We ended up getting this one, which seems a little fancier than what we need but was on sale at the time we bought it (plus we also gave away our swing and I’m hoping maybe this will suffice in its place). I think the basic one is all most people probably need though, especially if you already have a swing or bouncer chair.

2. DIAPER BAG ~ After 2 babies, I have yet to find the “perfect” diaper bag for me. With Big P, Mr. P bought me a Petunia Pickle Bottom Boxy Backpack as a Mother’s Day gift. Everyone raves about that diaper bag and we still use it frequently (our nanny uses it during the week and we often use it on the weekend as well). But I really do not like how everything falls into a dark abyss at the bottom. I feel like I’m always struggling to find what I need and have yet to find a good way to organize all of our stuff, plus maybe it’s just me but I don’t think it actually holds that much. I do like that it can be worn as a backpack, over the shoulder, or just like a regular handbag.

With Little P, I splurged and bought myself a fancy (and very expensive) Lily Jade Madeline bag. It’s a gorgeous bag that I use daily but not as a diaper bag ha. I use it as my work bag and rarely (maybe like 2-3 times ever) use it as a traditional diaper bag. And I’ve never converted it to a backpack despite that being one of my top reasons for picking this particular bag. If I stayed home with my kids, I may use this bag more frequently as a diaper bag, but I don’t (at least not right now). The zipper also breaks anytime I overstuff the bag, and well that happens a lot and would probably happen even more frequently if I was using it as a traditional diaper bag.

So, for Baby P, I’m hoping the 3rd time is a charm, and I find the perfect bag for me. I want something that doesn’t scream “I have a baby and spend hours looking at Pinterest all day” but it doesn’t have to look like a “normal” handbag or purse. Above all, it needs to be functional. I want to be able to wear it easily, store it under my stroller or hang it from the handlebars (preferably both), and be able to pack a few items for each of my boys in it without feeling like I may scream every time I open it up. Any suggestions would be MUCH appreciated!

3. INFANT CAR SEAT ~ We used a Chicco KeyFit 30 with our first 2 boys, and I have no complaints about it. I have to admit though … I was not as wildly in love with as some other moms seem to be. Maybe I am just the type of person who will never love a car seat (because, as I documented here, I also don’t love either of our expensive and highly-rated convertible car seats ha). We ended up giving our infant seat to a family member and will buy a new one soon. I kind of want to try a different brand, but we already have stroller adapters for the Chicco. We did give away our bases, however, so please let me know if you have an infant seat you LOVE.

4. BREAST PUMP ~ With my first 2 babies, I used a Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump that I bought used from another mom in our neighborhood (I know, I know, you are not supposed to buy non-hospital grade pumps used). It worked perfectly fine for me, but it seemed to be reaching the end of its life as I started transitioning Little P to formula around month 6 (due to his milk/ soy allergy, which I wrote a little about here). In fact, during one of my last pump sessions, the frayed cord almost caused a fire in my office conference room (OOOOPS). I knew I would need/want to buy a new breast pump with this pregnancy. And I was very open to trying a different kind and/or trying to get one from insurance (I haven’t had much luck doing that before although in the interest of full disclosure I didn’t try very hard). When I sat down to do our FSA reimbursements for 2016, I realized we were going to eat a LOT of the money we had set aside in our 2 FSA accounts last year (like over $1,500 a lot). Thankfully my company has an extended service period that allows you to incur expenses through March 15th for the prior year, so I used my remaining FSA balance to buy one of those new, fancy, and very expensive breast pumps I keep reading about. For the record I would have NEVER paid that much for a breast pump under normal circumstances, but, even after this purchase, we didn’t use up all of our 2016 FSA funds. So in this case, it made sense for us personally, plus I work full-time and pump a LOT. If you, like me, are wondering whether a breast pump could ever be worth $999, stay tuned – I will do a full product review when the breast pump (which is back ordered) and my milk arrive, along with Baby P, in a few months.

5. VIDEO MONITOR ~ We bought a prior version of this Lorex Sweet Peek Video Monitor before Big P arrived back in 2013. I don’t have any major complaints about it, but it has basically stopped working unless it’s plugged in. And, with Baby P arriving in the summer when my other 2 boys will likely be outside a LOT, I really need a monitor I can take with me around the house and out into our yard, which is quite big. I feel like video monitors are one of those baby items I just can’t figure out. I research and research and still have no idea which one to buy or even whether to go with a standalone or wireless one. I would very much appreciate your recommendations and/or advice on the best video monitor.

6. NEW BOTTLES ~ With Big P and Little P, we used a combination of Avent Classic bottles, Born Free bottles (it looks like the kind we used have since been discontinued), and Playtex Baby Nursers with drop-in liners. After 2 babies in less than 2 years, our bottle inventory is starting to wear out. I honestly think most, if not all, of our bottles just need to be replaced, as wasteful as that sounds. We’re missing parts to many of them and the remaining ones have a weird tinge, probably from being improperly washed (we are those people who just throw them in the dishwasher) and/or left under some piece of furniture with spoiled milk for days or longer. I know babies have strong preferences about bottles, so I don’t want to invest in a full set right now but I would like to have a few on hand before Baby P arrives just in case. Random question: does anybody use glass bottles like these (or, for that matter, non-plastic sippy cups like this one)? From time to time I feel compelled to get rid of some of the plastic crap in our house, and this seems like a good place to start.

7. A NEW CAR ~ This one is deserving of its own post (stay tuned) but we need a new car that can easily seat 5 with 3 little ones in car seats. Ironically one of our cars died about a month ago, so we will probably go ahead and buy a new one sooner than we planned. We just have no idea what we want or how much we want to spend. We are not car people and have had no car payment for the past 4 years or so, which has been really nice.

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And that’s my list of “must buys” for Baby P (unfortunately one of them is well a HUGE purchase gulp). I am also considering buying a new wrap and/or carrier to use when Baby P arrives, as I suspect we’ll have our hands very, very full with 3 boys 4 and under. We will also order a few personalized things (Baby P officially has a name now!!) and likely re-stock a few baby sleepers, but the nice thing about having 3 boys is, well, you can re-use almost all of your clothes, sheets, towels, blankets, etc.

What things did you buy for your 2nd or 3rd (or 4th, 5th, ….) baby? Have any new, awesome baby products come out recently that I may be completely unaware of? Please share!