1. Check out LuciesList.com and PregnantChicken.com. I swore by their websites for helping get information on the best versions and brands of pretty much everything we got. Those lovely ladies have devoted so much time to trying out car seats, pack and plays, swaddles, bottles, pumps...you name it, they have an opinion for you.
2. For us, I decided to not go cheap on two things: our stroller and our car seat. Getting a safe car seat is imperative and I desperately wanted a stroller that I could jog with, take on hikes at First Landing and so on. After hours of searching and reading reviews we decided on the Chicco KeyFit carseat and the BOB SE stroller. The best part about my being crazy about the car seat was that it turned out to be one of the best for NICU babies, that worked out, huh? We also got the matching play yard (pack and play) from Chicco, which we used in our room until he moved into his at four months. Just for fun, you should check out the baby gear by 4 moms, they have some amazing stuff!
3. Find a diaper bag that you can put a TON of stuff in, but don't break the bank. I found a $65 bag at Babies R' Us that I thought was pretty cute but most importantly, I could probably put the baby in there. It hangs well from the stroller and I can put stuff in a million pockets. I really wanted a Petunia Pickle Bottom bag, but then when I found one at Nordstom I realized that they kinda suck when it comes to space.
4. Find a monitor that you like. We have the Summer Infant video monitor with a thermometer. Maybe you don't need the temperature, Ryker's room isn't insulated as well as ours, so I found that pretty handy. They did have a recall recently for batteries overheating, but we've never had a problem.
5. We went to Target for our crib and we love it! We decided not to do the typical baby decorations and mostly used stuff we had, besides some pictures we got off Etsy. You can use all sorts of things in his room that aren't necessarily meant for babies. Our diaper holder? It's a two tiered fruit bowl made of wires that looks pretty cool and divides the inserts and covers. The chair we have in his room (which we never use, I always fed him in the living room) is from Sam's Club, a comfy leather chair with ottoman.
6. Get an awesome swing. For the love of God, get a good swing. We had this Graco glider and it was amazing. Ryker slept in that thing for months, it knocked him out so well and helped keep our sanity. (We actually still have it if you want to buy ours for cheap!)
7. Go slow. Register for everything at Babies R' Us, even if you'll buy it yourself. If it is on your registry you get a year to return it, so make sure that when you buy it or anyone else does that they take it off your registry. Another good idea is to check Amazon, you can get great prices off there. Also check out Amazon Mom!
8. BURP CLOTHS. Burp cloths for days. And then some more burp cloths. I hope your little guy isn't the fountain that Ryker was, but maybe stock up on some cute ones and mostly the cheap cloth diapers, they make amazing burp cloths and you can get a whole bunch for next to nothing.
I hope this helps a little! We returned a ton of stuff that we never used, so go slow and don't worry about stocking up on too much of the little things.
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