Babies: Prepared Child

Oh my, friends! If you've ever stumbled upon a registry suggestion list while pregnant you know that overwhelming feeling. 

Let me set the scene for you, shall we? 

As if getting pregnant may or may not have been hard enough, you are recently laden with all of the first trimester nightmare symptoms (or maybe not? I mean we don't really know each other like that yet.) As you prepare yourself your fourth piece of dry carb for the day, you sit down, put your feet up, and prepare for "the fun part". The reality of really being truly pregnant has set in and you are so excited about getting a small list together of what you might need started on a baby registry. You start Googling and WHAM! you find yourself in a never-ending list of stuff- for lack of a better word. And then, you start to look at the price tags on some of these things, even small stuff, and feel a bead of sweat starting at your temple. "It's OK"  you tell yourself, "I'll have a baby shower and hopefully get everything I need." You keep scrolling...and scrolling..and..oh wait, there's more. You start to suddenly feel another wave of nausea come over you and you close your laptop. 

Friends, can I tell you something that those box stores, Amazon, Babylist, and all of the other baby marketing companies don't want you to know? You absolutely DO NOT need all of that stuff. Your baby is only a baby for a very short time. They do not need a mortgage worth's amount of stuff to clutter your starter home. And frankly, a handful of what they say you need goes against your child's developmental needs and can be potentially harmful. 

There will be plenty of things they will obviously need, but it doesn't have to feel like you sold your soul to pay for all of the things these marketers are pushing. I will be breaking down what I feel are the essentials for bringing home baby, that first year of life, and things that will grow with your baby to give your purchases (or grandma's) some longevity. When people are feeling generous and want to "spoil the baby", let them with things that the baby won't use/wear for only a week or a month. And if you feel the weight of the lack of a village around you, you definitely need to know what is worth the price tag and what is not.

So, soon-to-be mama, take a breath. I got you and you've got this.