The Baby Cove

Registering for Baby Shell

At some point every new mom-to-be has to register.  Registering for your precious bundle of joy can be quite over whelming, especially when you are first timer like me.  There are so many products and choices that it is hard to know where to start.  Most websites share their top registry items which can be very helpful, but I have found they tend to feature their more expensive items.  Are these items really the best?

One of the top items I see is the Graco Quattro Tour System Stroller.

 
It runs about $250 at Babies R Us.  I have seen other Graco travel systems for about $100 less that are very similar.  Is the more expensive one really worth the money?  I understand we all want the safest products for our babies.  Has anyone bought the Quattro Tour System or the cheaper models and what is your opinion?

Another top registry item is video monitors.  Which ones are good?  Reading the reviews aren't always helpful. 

This Summer Infant Video Monitoring System runs about $300 at Babies R Us.  Is it worth the money?  What video monitor have you registered for or used that you think is worth the money?

I would love to hear any tips or advice on registering or products that you think are worth the money.    

Amazing Find: Baby Swing

Baby gear can get overwhelming.  There are MILLIONS of swings, car seats, strollers, bouncers, etc, a mom-to-be could look at this stuff for HOURS!  I stumbled across this FAB find and thought it was too good to be true and I just had to share with other mamas/mamas-to-be!  

It's the Bright Starts Ingenuity Cradle & Sway Swing.  What makes this swing so much more awesome than the rest you ask?  Well...it runs on batteries like most other swings but once it gets going it uses the momentum and baby's weight to keep moving!  GENIUS!  So it says it provides 2X the battery life than most swings, which my mom friends tell me is TWO THUMBS UP!  The swing seat rotates 180° for either Cradling motion, which provides a side-to-side movement; or Swinging motion, which provides a traditional front-to-back movement. It is also available in this cute, gender-neutral pattern.  I'm sold!

 

 

Have you tried this swing?  What are your FAVORITE baby items, the ones you cannot live without?   

 

Stroller Strides

Hello Baby Covers,

I was excited to pick up our stroller over the weekend-I had researched quite extensively, and had asked a lot of moms (many with more than one child) what they had, and also what they wished they had bought initially (a lot of moms have 3+ strollers!) and the consensus was that if they could do it over from the beginning, they would get a stroller that has the capacity to carry 2 (an infant and a toddler).

This was my criteria for a stroller:

• Lightweight, easy to fold and store
• Big, sturdy wheels that can handle all terrain
• Easy to navigate around malls, sidewalks, etc
• Possibility of seating a second child in the future
• Able to accomodate infant car seat

Based on all of that (a tall order, I know!) I decided on the Phil and Ted's Sport

model.   It is pictured above without the optional second seat, and until you need the seat, there is an accessory that converts it into a bouncy chair! How brilliant!! It also has an adaptor so you can attach either a Peg Perego or Graco infant seat to it, which is important as I want to it to be useful right from the beginning. Here's a pic with the second seat attached:

 

Moms I've talked to that have the Phil and Ted's love it, so I'm pretty confident it will do the job. What are your thoughts? Which stoller did you pick? I'd be curious to hear from moms who have a stoller like the Phil and Ted's...do you think I should get an infant car seat stroller frame for short trips out??

Here's a couple pics that Kerianne (keriannebrown.com) took of my "6 month baby bump" a few weeks ago...I can't believe I'm now almost 30 weeks along.....

Baby Books, Bargains, Websites, etc.

Hi everyone!

  

          I just wanted to share a few of the books I have found to be very enjoyable/helpful for pregnancy, as well as baby planning!  I like to shop on Amazon.com, because usually if you spend over $25 you get free shipping!  So I think all of my links below go straight to Amazon.  Of course you can always get these books in a multitude of other places!

  

          To start, there are obviously the more well-known books I'd like to mention such as What to Expect When You're Expecting: 4th Edition and Great Expectations, both of which I enjoy.  My hubby likes The Expectant Father: Facts, Tips and Advice for Dads-to-Be, 2nd Edition... He says out of all the books he's read, it talks about the role of the expectant father in the least "stereotypical" way, which is refreshing compared to some of the other "daddy-to-be" books out there! :-)

            

          To find the best baby products, I first recommend Consumer Reports: Best Baby Products, 10th Edition, and then Baby Bargains, 8th Edition, after you read the former so you can decide which products you think are quality-made and safe enough for your little angel!

    

          Another way to find all kinds of great deals is through a wonderful website called CheapTweet, which is a site for "Scouring Twitter for deals so you don't have to!" If you want to give that website a shot, just go there and try typing "baby furniture" in the "Search CheapTweet" bar at the top of the page and see what comes up!  And, you also might like Parentricity, which is a feed of all of CheapTweet's baby-related deals

     

          On a side note, I recently discovered that JCPenney (online) is having a sale on baby furniture (among other baby items!).  And don't forget to look out for more sales and deals as we get closer to the 4th of July!

     

          Other websites I enjoy for baby planning (among other things) are The Bump and Baby Center, both of which you can also get great weekly pregnancy updates from, tailored to your due date!

  

          Aside from books and websites for baby products and planning, other books I recommend include Secrets of the Baby Whisperer: How to Calm, Connect, and Communicate with Your Baby, as well as The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems: Sleeping, Feeding, and Behavior--Beyond the Basics from Infancy Through Toddlerhood.

 

          Finally, if you're looking for a good pregnancy journal (I have a couple but am really bad at keeping them updated!), I personally like The Belly Book: A Nine-Month Journal for You and Your Growing Belly, because it's not bogged down with extra information that you likely already have in your pregnancy library, and is more of a keepsake book than an organizer (like other journals can be).

          On one LAST note, I just HAD to share my first real "bump" picture, because, of course, I am ever so proud (especially now that my nausea seems to be permanently gone.. for 3 weeks now!!!)!  This was taken at 17 weeks 5 days... :-)  The shirt says "Stay Free," and it's from Target (I also have a really cute yellow one that says "I Love Life")... Not a maternity shirt, but the fabric is so light and stretchy, that it works great for growing baby bumps (and prenatal yoga!).