The Pregnancy Diaries: Baby Gear

The Pregnancy Diaries: Baby Gear

• Monday, June 11, 2012

Baby is coming in just 6 (hopefully) short weeks which means it's time to start purchasing all our baby gear!  We still have a baby shower coming up this Saturday but I know we won't get everything off our registry so we've been building our collection of big items with 20% off coupons at Babies R Us.

First things first.  We bought the car seat.  I love, love, LOVE it.  It's the Graco Snugride 35 in Bermuda.  I think the fabric is so cute and it's totally gender neutral!  The material isn't shiny like it looks in the pictures...it looks better in person.

Baby toys are even attached and ready for action!  That cute little bee toy was given to us by one of my sisters-in-law.  I was given so many awesome things from both Holli and Alyson but I don't remember who gave me what!

The only downside of this car seat: These dumb warning labels are totally permanent in the car seat!  You should know they are NOT pictured in the online images OR on the box.  I hate them but oh well.

Stock photo.  See? Not so shiny.  Also, SEE no warning labels!!!

Car seat pros:

• Rated 5 stars!
• It's compatible with our jogging stroller...yay!
• The sun shade moves 180 degrees.  So if the baby is backward facing and the sun is in his eyes from the back window I can just move the sun shade to the bottom of the car seat to block the sun.  Awesome.
• Gender neutral
• Removable head/body support for smaller babies
• Got 20% off of the original price of $170.  Yay for coupons!

Car seat cons:

• Those dumb labels that are permanently attached to the fabric!  But it's the only con so I can live with it.

Our next big purchase was the baby swing.  I researched and researched when we registered and settled on this cute Bright Starts Ingenuity swing:

It was $150 but we got it 20% off so it was only $120 before tax.  Unfortunately, we're returning it tomorrow.  Turns out all my research failed me.  This swing has major cons.  I know this because my sister bought the exact same swing for her newborn baby and started using it when he was born last week and filled me in on the cons:

• The seat only has two settings for recline - straight up and barely tilted back.  This makes for an uncomfortable swing for a little newborn baby since they can't hold their little heads up.  She figured out that if she removed the newborn head support (what's the point of that anyway if you have to remove it?!) and then just wrapped a blanket around Nate's head it worked out better but still that's annoying.
• The biggest con?  It has automatic shut-off and you cannot deactivate that feature!  So it turns off automatically after 90 minutes.  I should mention that this is published nowhere.  Not on the product description online and absolutely nowhere on the box.  How annoying!  Laurin told me this was a total deal-breaker for her.  Poor baby Nathan wakes up every 90 minutes when the swing shuts off and she has to wake up and turn it back on.  I guess some people like this "feature" but we both think it's stupid.  I consulted my mom and she agreed: total deal-breaker.

It's really too bad because I think the swing is so cute and I love how it can both swing and sway like a cradle.  Plus the seat vibrates which is a really cool feature.  A swing and bouncer all-in-one!

Anyway, I was totally stressed out about finding a new swing since it seemed like everything had horrible reviews.  After (more) research I've now settled on this swing:

Graco Sweet Snuggle Infant Soothing Swing - Providence

I have to say it took me a lot of hours to decide if I really wanted it because I just don't think it's all that cute.  It's okay but I just don't think it's as cute as the other or as gender-neutral.  I wish they had a tan or cream version.  But they don't.  And considering all the pros compared to the very few cons I had to buy it.

PROS:

• Plug-in option (love!)
• 4 swing settings (like 4 different motions - he's bound to like at least one, right?!)
• 6 speed settings
• 3 recline settings (it totally leans back far enough to be comfy for a newborn)
• Supposedly it's "whisper quiet"
• 4 stars on Babies R Us.  None of the other swings have that many.
• My sister had a Graco (different model/style) and LOVED it so I'm hoping the same will be true for me for this swing.
• No automatic shut-off! Yay!!
• Only $130 except I didn't get to use a 20% off coupon since they don't carry this in stores.  Boo.

CONS:

• I don't really think it's all that cute
• Mobile is totally lame.  But I guess those stars are removable so maybe I will hang my own toys on there.  Cuter ones.
• No tray but after talking to my sister, I've decided that's not really a big deal.

See?  There are lots of pros and just some silly cons.  So I went ahead and bought it online tonight.  Free 2-day shipping since I have a one-year free trial with ShopRunner (awesome, by the way!) so it should arrive by Thursday!

At first I wasn't sure that we would set up the baby swing here in Utah since we will be moving just 4 weeks after baby's arrival and I didn't know that I wanted to take it apart again to repack it in the box but I've decided we actually will set it up so the baby can try it out for a few weeks.  The return policy is 90 days so we will have approximately 50 days to use it and decide if we like it.  If not, I can return it to Babies R Us and try something else.  Fingers crossed!  I don't want to have to pick another swing.

Our next big buy?  The bouncer.  Or maybe the high chair.  And the stroller but we definitely know which one we want and have money for it from the baby shower.  I'm just waiting for it to go on sale at Target because it has been on sale multiple times so I'm sure it will be again!

PS My nursing pillow (the new JJ Cole Paisley Pillow) and my car seat/stroller blanket (JJ Cole lite Bundleme) are on their way!  Got them for 30% off after registering my JJ Cole diaper bag.  My jersey knit fabric to make my baby carrier wrap was also shipped out today! Got 6 yards for 14, including shipping instead of the $40 I would have spent at Joann's (WITH a 50% off coupon!) or $30 I would have spent at Hobby Lobby (at 30% off!).  I just love finding deals (as long as it's relatively easy.  I am so not a crazy coupon-er. 

JJ Cole nursing pillow

JJ Cole Lite Bundleme (I'll probably use it most for the jogging stroller but it works for the car seat too)

Can you tell I'm excited for the baby? 41 days!