Brandie-

Just a suggestion… if you are using cloth diapers Wal-mart carries diaper covers by Gerber for a lot cheaper than the name brand kinds! I’ve been very pleased with them too I think they’re like $5 for 5 covers (or $6 for 6, something like that).

I’m opting out of getting a stroller for baby#3, unless I find a decent one at a yard sale for about $10. I plan on wearing baby most of the time for the first 6 months or so, and then it will be winter, and in NW Oregon, that means rain. We don’t go to malls or anything like that where you’d need a stroller, so we really won’t need one(conceivably) until baby is about a year old, if in a bind before than, we’ll borrow one. As for a carseat, one of our closest friends has a nice infant seat she said her baby should be out of by the time ours is born, however, we also have a convertible car seat from our son who has outgrown it, so we might just buy a newborn head support and use it. I definately wouldn’t use a borrowed carseat, or buy a used one, unless it was from someone I knew very closely and knew it was a newer seat that had never been in an accident. The most expensive thing I can see with this baby (besides the hospital bill) will be diaper covers. I’m having a hard time finding used ones, we got rid of all of our old ones after baby #2, cuz we thought we were done! I’m going to try making some out of fleece and old wool sweaters.

We didn’t have an exersaucer and never missed it, and maybe with the next one we will try getting a playyard instead of the crib, currently the crib is a holding place for clean laundry that needs folded… But we use our Boppy on a daily basis, regular pillows slip too easy.

I do agree with the baby tub. Our daughter hated HATED baths until I just started sitting in the tub holding her. She still doesn’t care for water so much, but will tolerate it long enough to washer her hair and face. Plus this way, if I get peed on, I am already in the tub (she had a habit of peeing when we wrapped her in a towel for a while).

LOL! Sorry for all the typos! I was up late last night and it really shows!

Great post, Kendra! You are so right about the changing table–with my oldest son, that was one of the most expensive but worthless thing I purchased. You really do end up changing the baby everywhere but the changing table! Also, I buy maybe 60% of my baby clothes at yard sales and consignments. I’ve found some great bargains there. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with buying gently used clothing, and I buy them for the entire family!

What an appropriate post for me! I’m expecting #5 in around 7 weeks. While I agree with just about everything you said, I have to strongly disagree with not needing a bouncer. That was something I actually put on my “need” list this time around. Obviously, if we didn’t have the money for it, we would not have purchased it, but I am SO thankful that we were able to make room for it in the budget. It has been a staple for me. We had a swing, but several of my children have much preferred the bouncer. It also helped during so many sleepless nights in the beginning. I would put the baby in there, after exhausting other possibilities and it always seemed to do the trick.

Also, we purchased a crib when our first was on the way. She slept in it, and so did our second, but we found that with the more children we had, a playpen with a bassinet served our purposes more so. It’s not as bulky, and it’s quite a bit cheaper. We actually got rid of our crib just before our 4th was born.

And as far as a changing table goes, I don’t have one, but that has been something I’ve been on the lookout for. After having a c-section, I realized the huge benefits of a changing table, at least for those first few weeks. Changing the baby was quite difficult and painful until my stomach healed enough. A changing table is the perfect height and would benefit anyone who’s had a c-section.