U.S. Mommies To Be

[DarlingMe]

Swettmama, I got the Britax B ready ($500) and the chaperone car seat ($230). The car seat is free right now with purchase of the stroller. Amazon has the strollers for about $400. If you have a BuyBuyBaby you can use a 20% off coupon from Bed Bath & Beyond. So about $400 + tax for everything! The stroller is comparable to the uppababy or bugaboo. Plus it turns into a double stroller if you need to. BritaxUsa.com is their website. I love it!!

As for the bassinet carrier it is good for up to 20 lbs. The toddler seat is not for use until after 6 months not 3 months (and that seems to be what most of them are? maybe just the ones I looked at?) The stroller does hold the infant seat which is great for shorter trips. But as I said, with the baby being a few months old in the holiday season I am thinking that the carrycot maybe a good idea for extended shopping trips and visits to relatives over the holidays. It isnt recommended for infants to sleep in the carriers. I know for a car ride or a little while isnt a big deal but as someone pointed out on another post extended periods in the infant carriers can affect their spinal development.

But Lisa as you said, we might only use it a handful of times.... so I dont know. It is a $120 on sale. I dont mind spending the money (or adding it to my registry ) but I hate get it to have it sit there! The attachments seem to be a huge trend right now so I am wondering if there are benefits to them or if it is just a passing trend!

 

[lisaf]

ooh, if your infant seat isn't good until 6 months, then you may get more use than mine!

I have a Mutsy and my seat works at 3 months (and it collapses with the infant seat on it )

My carrycot was $225... so for $120 I can see the temptation for sure!!!
This is my first, so I don't know how much I'll be out and about those first 3 months so I'm not too worried about the extended time in the bucket seat. I also hope me and the kid like my Moby wrap so I can babywear a bit and get him out of the carseat a bit.

And almost as much as the cost/waste, is my worry where the heck I'm going to store the dang thing when I'm done

 

[Sweet_Mama]

Darling~ I'd get a cupholder at least for a water bottle or whatever. I have looked at that stroller before as well. I think I like the uppababy vista best, but just looking for a deal first. Oh, you may want the snack tray for when baby is a bit older.

 

[lisaf]

I want a cup holder, but they all have crappy reviews
I also want the shopping basket attachment and the snack tray.. then I'll want the stand & ride platform if we have a 2nd kid

 

[DarlingMe]

The Britax comes with a cup holder, a little removable storage bag that can go on the upper handle or lower part with insulated drink holders, and the uppababy snack tray fits into the toddler seat. They also sell cup holders for the toddler. The cup holder is really the only thing that I have heard anything bad about on this stroller! And I figure I can always throw my water bottle underneath if the cupholder is that bad or buy a new universal one that is more practical.

Lisa I agree about the storing thing! That is what I was just saying to OH today. We have an ongoing argument about getting a baby tub for this reason. They are fairly cheap but soo huge for something you will only use a handful of times. I have no problems using the sink and a towel in the bottom! I would love a bouncy style chair to put in the back of the shower/tub when LO is a little older though. I can only find one manufactuer that makes one, and it looks very poorly made.

 

[DarlingMe]

I was going to say too that the stroller is just the frame and the infant seat. Another reason why I liked it. I hate the idea of putting the car seat over the toddler seat for some reason. They look so huge that way! So you take the car seat and put it into the base and throw the frame in the trunk. The toddler seat and frame fold together. The bassinett really doesnt fold up too much, I think it folds flat to maybe 4 inches or so but otherwise it is stuck at 2 feet long or whatever it is!

 

[MissFox]

Ok- finally found my water absorbing pad- the brand is Especially for Baby and it's the Large Premium Quilted Multi-Use Pad
Here's a link for what I think is the same one- but I got mine from a thrift store and it looks like older packaging.
https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3046050&CAWELAID=234104862

Anyways- looks pretty badass to me lol

 

[lisaf]

I totally have to agree about the bathtub thing! Sure, I'd love one... but I have 1 bathroom that is so small that there is no room to stash a litter box! Where exactly is a baby tub supposed to fit?

There are a few space-saving ideas for tubs though... and I like them better too.
This is the priciest choice... I liked it enough I would have gone for it except my sink is too small/shallow in the bathroom and I didn't want it in the kitchen sink for some reason.
https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4014798&prodFindSrc=search

This is what I ended up going with:
https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3678339&prodFindSrc=search

This is a cheaper option:
https://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3618616&prodFindSrc=search

What I like about the last 2 is that they accomplish the same thing as a towel, but aren't going to be as wet when you're done using it. The 2nd one is a lot cheaper, but I've heard they wear out faster than the one I went with.

 

[heyyady]

Ummm- all of the toy r us links are broken

 

[MissFox]

WEIRD! I used them all this morning and just checked again and they are!

 

[Soph22]

lisa- have you tried the moby wrap yet? I just got mine yesterday and WOW is it long! I had DH help me try to figure it out and try it on. It's pretty tricky. I'm going to try and watch the youtube video showing how to do it and practice a few times before baby gets here. I want to be able to do it myself, but it was pretty tricky! Seems comfy though.

 

[Sweet_Mama]

I just wanted to say that I BOUGHT DIAPERS today, lol. Man... I forgot how expensive those things are, ugh.

 

[lisaf]

I have done the Moby wrap... I watched lots of videos and diagrams online... then my friends gave me theirs, and I had it on within 5 minutes.. popped my dog in it, lol. Of course I hadn't tied it tight enough I guess... whoops!

Ok.. I had a bunch of stuff to return today. Apparently someone regifted me some stuff they'd been given (no biggie)... but what they did was go out to Sears, re-buy the stuff, got gift receipts, then returned the stuff. I was unable to return the stuff because the gift receipts were already returned (the barcodes on the receipts also didn't match the stuff even though the descriptions were exact matches). There just doesn't seem to be another explanation! How tacky is that?!?!?! Why even tease me with a gift receipt if I can't even use it?!
And of course Sears won't take things back without a receipt even for store credit. What a smart move.. piss of a woman who is about to have a child that will need clothes for the next 18 years.

 

[Sweet_Mama]

Oh Lisa, that totally sucks... and is completely tacky. Wow. You're right. Why bother with giving you a receipt to begin with, ugh. I also can't believe that Sears won't give you store credit.

 

[lisaf]

I know! My friend gave me a bunch of stuff from Target that wasn't exactly what I'd wanted... they took it back for store credit without a receipt and were even apologetic that one of the items was getting a credit of 6.50 instead of 7.29 since it had been on sale recently ... the girl at Target was so cute and even dug around and made sure to put the store credit on a baby card, lol.

I can't even try to return the boppy to another store like Target because it has a sears sticker on the package (its like it was printed on the cardboard insert or something, not easy to remove). I dont know anyone else who is pregnant to give it to.. guess I'll ask around

 

[MissFox]

Does Sears do a thing with your registry where if it's on it and purchased you can return it? Target does that (store credit) and we didn't like the crib we were given (MIL got the wrong one on purpose b/c she didn't want us to have the same one as her favorite kid- even though it's what we asked for) so we added it to the registry and were able to return it for store credit and get the crib we wanted.
My registry was a disaster! I had to return over $70 in baby clothes size newborn and duplicate teethers (my registry said 1- why buy 3 more than that?!) and I didn't get a lot of the stuff I needed. Happy I got it sorted though and now we have what we need.

 

[heyyady]

Lisa- Sell it all on Craigslist! ! New with tags items- get something out of your friend's stupidity!

 

[lisaf]

I didn't register at Sears... almost nobody bought off my registry...
I registered at babies r us and amazon
I had people shopping at Kohls, a local baby store, a local toy store, Sears, Nordstrom, Target

I ended up with 3 sleep sheep because not a single one of them bought from my registry, lol!

 

[lisaf]

good idea on the craigslist thing! I'll probably only get $15 for it, but thats better than nothing. I'd almost rather give it to someone though... hmmm

I was also pissed that babies r us wouldn't take stuff back that was bought online unless they also carried it in the store. So now I have to decide if its worth my time to mail back these 2 items (which I also didn't save the packing slips on because they were bought off my registry so I knew I wouldn't need it when I was in the store ).
They're items I asked for, but one of them requires me to have bars on my changing table to tie to (its a diaper stacker) and the one I picked out had bars, but the one my friend gave me for free didnt. I also had picked out a sage green moby wrap and a friend gave me her used one that is black... the store won't take back a green one because they only sell black WTF?

 

[MissFox]

SO FRUSTRATING! I had a lot of the same probelm. I no joke- got 15 or 16 pacifiers! (I registered for 3 different brands of 2 packs). Luckily it was the people who didn't come that got me things from my registry. I also got 30 blankets. OK SOOO MY BABY IS SUPPOSED TO LIVE IN BLANKETS??? And 4 were almost identical! I hardly got any gift receipts. I will never buy anything for anyone that isn't on their registry!!! I thought people knew they were made for a reason.