Today was Den’s twin neices 7th birthday party. I tell ya, shopping for their presents made me really happy I’m only getting one. Trying to find “matching” toys and clothes was an uttter pain in the ass! But they got a bunch of things from their list and seemed pretty darned happy overall. Of course I don’t think they spent more than 10 seconds on each gift as they were opening them… always the thrill of the next gift, right? :) Made me really look forward to my kid getting old enough. Gosh. Such a cool thought.

One of the families there had an older daughter (the twins’ age) and a 9 month old girl. She was chatting with me a bit about pregnancy and baby stuff. I mentioned cloth diapers in an offhand sort of way, and she just said something to the effect of, “Oh, you’re going cloth? There are SO many cute options out there!” I don’t think she uses cloth herself, but she was obviously familiar with it. So that was cool!

MIL was very sweet as well… she told me that she wanted to let me know that she thinks finding out the gender by U/S is totally cool and she would have done it, had she had the option back then. (Because last time there was a party, I was tsk-tsked by one of the other MILs.) She said she wanted to tell me last time but never got a chance to. I swear, my MIL is just the coolest MIL in the world. :) (And this is Den’s mom I’m talking about. He also has a step-mom.) She is just totally awesome. The other MILs were the ones ranting last time…. my MIL is very very not-pushy and non-judgemental. And she goes out of her way to tell you that she supports you, whatever you do. So she’s cool. :) And she’s REALLY looking forward to totally spoiling our singleton. (She’s the one with the two sets of twins as grandchildren… this is her first singleton grandchild and she’s so excited, lol. Not that she doesn’t LOVE both sets of twins, but she said it’ll be really fun just to have one to spoil.)

Pizza didn’t agree with me, just to let you know. I think it’s the tomato sauce honestly, as the pasta with tomato sauce last night didn’t agree with me either.

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I have this huge craving for a big made-from-scratch waffle with strawberries and a ton of whipped cream. I actually layed down to try to sleep and all I could think of was how good a waffle would taste. Shit. And when I mentioned it to Den he totally rolled his eyes at me. Apparently running to IHOP – which isn’t close – at midnight isn’t really in his plans. He’s going to a golf tournament tomorrow, so I may have to make a breakfast run to Bickfords (far closer than IHOP). I definitely will if this craving keeps up. Daammnnnn. Want waffle bad.

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I did some more wish-list making online, and found out that Amazon.com has all the same stuff that Target has…. and for cheaper. I think the Baby Papasan swing that I want was nearly $30 cheaper! So I’ve ended up moving all my Target baby registry stuff over to Amazon.com. I still have the Babies R Us one, because it’s like, the mega store that everyone checks first, lol. But Amazon has some great stuff!

They even have the newest Arm’s Reach Cosleeper models. After reading all the product descriptions I’ve decided to get a mini cosleeper simply because of space issues in the bedroom. we could make room, but it would probably mean removing a dog crate or two, and when the baby comes I think we’re going to need the dogs to sleep in their crates for safety reasons. (Me tripping over them safety reasons… not them harming the baby!! As it is it takes me 5 minutes to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night, as I have to be careful to step over both dogs in the dark.) It’s not a huge room, by any stretch, and having a king-size bed, two dog crates – one a HUGE one – and a TV cabinet in here has it pretty much stuffed. Anyways, so I want a mini size, and then I read about their new Mini Convertable Cosleeper. It can be a bassinett, cosleeper, or a changing table! So I might do that, so that when baby moves to the crib we can turn it into a changing table. Sounds like a good idea. (Unless we buy a dresser, then I won’t need it, but damn dressers are expensive!)

I’m pretty set on what I want for a lot of the baby gear.

I love the Ionic pattern from Graco for the infant seat and stroller. The stroller is a much smaller one than their typical ones… lightweight. Still works with the infant seat. I think it’ll be great. I am NOT one to walk/jog around the neighborhood with the baby in a stroller and I plan to babycarry in public, but for cases when I do need a stroller a small one is great. And very sharp looking, if I might say so. (I actually think some of Den’s friends have this exact model of stroller, but I’m not certain their kid is going to have outgrown it by the time ours comes along.)

I have settled on the Baby Papasan swing because I’ve heard so many good things about it. I’m not going to get the Baby Papasan bouncer, because I want something different just for variety… but I think I want a very comfortable, soothing swing for baby, lol!

The Graco Playard in Kendall is a totally cute pattern, and it has the raised changing table. I like that. It’ll look great in our living room. It’s totally cute and not frilly like some of them are. (I hate ruffles. I really hate ruffles.)

I’ve decided on the Fisher Price Space Saver highchair. It’s far cheaper than standalone highchairs, and it’s really classy looking and simple. (And friends of mine love theirs!)

I really like the Baby Einstein Discovering Water bouncer, but I’m not completely sold on it. It’s pretty expensive and I might just change my mind and get something simpler (and cheaper). If it’s a girl I may have to get the Think Pink Bouncer. I mean, it’s pink and so cute. :D

Then you get the other stuff… the additional base for the car seat (since we have TWO vehicles now!!), the Snuzzler head & body support for the infant seat for newborns, the monitor (digital), the lansinoh and gas drops, a shitload of washclothes (to use as wipes and whatever else in addition to bathing), the crib mattress and pad, the contoured changing pad and covers, the boppy and covers, and sheets for the crib, playard and bassinet. Missing anything? Probably am missing some stuff…. but I don’t really want to go totally overboard on shit either. I don’t at the moment have much toys or anything on my lists, but I know I’ll get some anyways, and I’ll need some teethers and rattles and baby books and stuff. Oh, and clothes… but light knows people love to buy baby clothes! I’m sure I’ll have plenty enough for an April baby. I might get some sleep sacks and such for the first month or two, but after that I shouldn’t need much more than onesies and shirts!

And diapers, of course, but I’ve already taken care of that. LOL For my baby shower I’m going to have to have some way of politely asking people not to bring a bag of diapers (since I’ve heard from others that it’s a VERY common thing to do). Yes, I’ll probably want an emergency bag of diapers, but I do NOT want a huge stash of diapers I don’t intend to use! (If things go horribly wrong with the cloth, we can always just drive to the store and buy some sposies, you know?)

Oh yeah, and a simple pump, like I posted about earlier.

I dunno, maybe I’m already getting jaded, but those lists of “necessary items” that the stores publish? Full of totally unnecessary crap. Of course I’ve had a long time to sit on my baby wish lists (since I started them when I started TTC – so almost two years now) and even though I just got pregnant I’m totally over the adding-everything-to-my-list stage.