Woo-whee! Babies are expensive!

We went out this weekend with one task in mind:  Buy Baby Stuff.  We wanted to "close out" our registries and get the remaining items that we thought seemed important.  Things like a swing, baby monitor, baby bath, baby carrier, etc.  And we did.  We got all of those things.  But I also realized that we had hardly any newborn-sized clothing.  Lots of three month or six month size.  But hardly anything for when he's brand new.  So we stocked up.  I'm suspecting that because we did so, he'll be a huge baby that fits into three-month-size right away.  But it's too late.  I snipped the tags and did the laundry already because, quite frankly, doing laundry sounds like the last thing I'll want to do once we get home.  We live in an apartment community and our laundry room is a fair little walk away.  Want to be as stocked as possible for that first week.  And, seriously, the newborn clothes are so itty-bitty and adorable.  They are hard to resist!

How could I resist that sweater? The answer is, I could not.

Now that we are stocked on the rest of our baby items - which, also, in case you didn't know (because I didn't but am glad I read it on a forum before we left):  BuyBuy Baby accepts Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons that are not expired.  So I got our baby monitor for 20% off.  Which is a heck of a lot better than just the 10% off you get for registry fulfillment, especially since it was the most expensive thing on our list.  I had a few BBB coupons I was able to use on a few of our other bigger ticket items too, which was great!

Anyway, back to the original thought:  Now that we are stocked up on the rest of our baby items, we're feeling as prepared as we are going to get.  I wouldn't say we are 'ready' because you can never really be completely ready but we are feeling prepared.  There will surely be items that we didn't think of or realize that we actually need once baby boy arrives but luckily BabiesRUs and Target are just a few minutes away, so I can send the hubby out if need be.  We also picked out curtains for the nursery, which had to be ordered because they didn't have the size we needed in-store, so as soon as they arrive I'll take some pictures and give you guys a peek of our jungle nursery space!

We also spent some time this weekend playing with the car seat - using a teddy bear as our "baby" to buckle him in and making sure we knew how to use it.  Our childbirth instructor recommended we all do this so that we aren't stuck holding up traffic trying to leave the hospital as we try to figure out the car seat for the first time!  I'm glad we did it too because there were a few little nuances that it took a sec for me to figure out and I'm sure I would have been reduced to a puddle of tears trying to figure it out as cars lined up behind us at the hospital.  We also installed the car seat base in the middle of the back seat.  Originally we had put it on the driver's side but then read and learned that the best place for the car seat is the middle seat because if you are in an accident where the side of the car is impacted, the car seat is more protected in the middle.  I first read this in the weekly emails sent from Lucie's List - which if you're an expectant mama, I highly recommend signing up for.  The email regarding car seats was incredibly informative and helpful - that one email alone makes it worth signing up for!  And then at our infant care class, our instructor reiterated that same philosophy of keeping the car seat in the middle back seat.  It was a little trickier of an installation because we had to use the seatbelt to secure the base instead of the anchors which are only available on the side seats but it was all good to learn and know.

Winston the Bear is ready for a safe car ride!

Again, feeling prepared.  Feeling ready is whole 'nother ball game!

(Speaking of ball games....GO RAVENS!  Very excited that my husband's hometown team is going to the Super Bowl.  Now we're just worried the baby might decide to be a Super Bowl baby...he'll be full term by then so you never know...!)