Recently in Things we have Category

Update: Another one day sale at USA Baby and the mat is taken care of!

This is an example of me and money. So it would be nice to have a play mat and gym for Ollie. Among other things, there is no carpeting in our entire house. He needs something cushy to lie on when he's lying on his stomach (4 times for 5 minutes a time) so his head doesn't become flat.

There are tons and tons out there, ranging in price.

Which one do I like best?

The most expensive one possible.

It's not even intentional people. It's like... in a room full of things without price tags, I will find the most costly and like it best.

Update: Ok, thanks to some lovely presents from some lovely people (Ollie's grandmas and Sandy, to name names), as well as some shopping on our own part, Ollie no longer needs the following things. Thanks for the lovely presents!!

We need a baby bathtub. Apparently the kind with mesh slings on the inside are good for suspending your baby in place. After that, I really couldn't care less.

We need a changing pad with a buckle to keep the thing from plunging over the side (they frown on that). I don't care what kind either.

Apparently we need a cover to go on the changing pad, and it would be nice if it went with the room (see above bedding).

It's likely we could use an extra crib sheet or 2. White or light blue would be fine.

And then I guess you need burp cloths? My friend Shannon seems to have a variety of cloth around for draping over yourself so Fiona (the baby) doesn't throw up on you. I'm not particular on those either, so long as they are not pastel nor have geese or bears or chicks or whatever.

And blankets. I guess it needs a blanket or two, considering it will be born in December.

There was another one, at the store we saw this and it was incredibly soft and comfy. Soft and comfy seems good.


Oh, and apparently some kind of carrier or sling to tote it around in is supposed to be handy.

Update: Finally found the bag on ebay for a somewhat reasonable price. Can cross that off the list... only a few things left to acquire...

Here is the diaper bag we like best:

I'm actually torn now... I like the slate blue one too... I guess either color would work.

This is actually a much cheaper version of one we saw and loved at a store in the mall. It was $150. For a diaper bag?

Update: Thanks to the showers we have lots of books... of course Ollie could always use more. :)

Another great idea would be to buy the baby your favorite kids' book and put a bookplate inside saying who gave it to him/her.

Make the baby a burrito!

These are available all over the place.

Baby clothing is generally ugly. It's all pastel. It's covered in chicks and teddy bears and generally twee as all hell.

If it's not ugly, it's expensive. So I've been stalking clothing on ebay and at resale shops.

My favorite baby clothes are made by Zutano.

This for example:

and this:

are super cute.

Expensive. But super cute.

Sometimes Gymboree has cute stuff too. We got a onesie off of ebay that has a pirate on it.

Anyway. This post is more like "adventures in good baby design" than actual registry... but that's ok too.

Update: Giant sale at USA Baby means we have acquired these things! Now they would let us take Ollie home from the birthing center.

So I think Eric's family said they would buy us our car seat for Christmas (thanks!). I think the one I like the most is this one:

(the lime green one, not the pink one)

Which I found the cheapest here. There is also a compatible stroller that you can buy with it for a cheaper price, which is nice.

It seems safe, relatively stylish, and much cheaper and lighter than many other travel systems.

Okay, this entry is all about cute baby clothes we've found. :) We have a number of clothes, so it's not like we need all these, but if you want to contribute to a stylin' baby, here are some ideas. We have a fair number of 0-3 month things, but not so many 3-6 month.

When I grow up I want to be a monkey
Hi, I'm new here
Baby Ninja
Why you all up in my grill
Crawl, Walk, ...
I traveled through the birth canal...
My Mom is a Geek
My Dad is a Geek
Mommy's Favorite Deductible
Sippee Cup Sommelier
They Shake Me

Update: Pillow acquired! Pictures of it on completed glider forthcoming.

We bought really cute bedding for the crib. It's the Koi design by Sozo. We stumbled upon it in a sale. We would still like the pillow to go on the glider.

This can be purchased many places online. Here is one example.

Also: here's a neat trick. There are two versions of the set. One with a fancy crib skirt, one with a simple crib skirt. The fancy crib skirt is fancy because it has a silk overlay overtop a cotton one. It costs substantially more than the set with just the cotton one. HOWEVER, you can buy the silk overlay as a curtain valance for much cheaper. Then, you can just sew that sucker right overtop the simple cotton one and have saved $30 and gotten the exact same look.

Update: crib is ordered and should be in relatively soon. Glider is all done (as is visible in pictures). Today we bought a dresser off of Craig's List (for $15!) and after spraying it with things to remove the bugs (spiders, spider egg sacs, and wasp/mud dauber nests- I think it was in this guy's garage), Eric will sand it and give it a coat of black paint. We might put new hardware on it too. Then we will be all set for furniture!

Jenny's parents have graciously offered to buy us the crib as a Christmas present (thanks!). We bought a glider and ottoman used and Eric refinished it black and Jenny sewed (or, is sewing) new cushion covers for it. We bought the changing table on sale. This just leaves a small black dresser for the infant's stuff.

Here is the cheapest most acceptable black dresser we found:

And here is the link to where it can be purchased.

So just like when you get married, when you have a baby you're supposed to make a registry. Here is our problem: there is no store where we like the stuff enough to register at it.

The stuff we like is scattered all over. We'd be happy to buy it for ourselves (the whole registry idea squicks me out, frankly), and if no one ever reads this- we're ok with that.

But just in case people ask for a registry, I thought we'd make this to point them in a direction.

First off: generalities. We do not want anything that's extremely gendered. What do I mean by this? We don't want anything that says "Daddy's little sports fan" or "Princess" (unless you're buying it for Cara). The other day I saw a onesie that said, and I'm not kidding, "Boys like dogs and trucks." Well, I hope that it will like dogs, or it's in trouble, but I assume not all boys like dogs and trucks, and it's equally likely girls will like dogs and trucks, so that onesie is stupid.

I'm not even all that keen on things that say "I love Mommy" because according to the book The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil, babies don't develop the capacity to love until they are four months old. So there's no point in having the baby lie before it's old enough to talk. Also, there's a disproportionately small amount of stuff that says "I love Daddy" and we find that strange and troubling. Perhaps it is because they assume women will be buying the majority of the baby's clothes? Perhaps it is because the bond between a mother and a child is privileged in our society? We dunno.

We don't really like pastel all that much either.

We're also planning on using a diaper service, so we don't want disposible diapers. We could, however, use some diaper covers.

I know, I know. This makes it difficult to buy things for babies. This is why we couldn't register any place.

So here is a collection of things we would like for the infant. If nothing else, it can serve as a central repository shopping list for us.

Thank you very much, Eric, Jenny, and Oliver Grey Kokai-Means