November 13, 2005

Baby Preparations.

"We're guaranteed to get a baby placed with us soon," my husband insists. "After all, we're broke."

He has a point. We need a crib, and a few obvious items: bottles, diapers, onesies. I'm shopping hard, and won't spend a dime more than I have to (beyond ensuring safety issues, of course).

We're gravitating toward an Ocean/Underwater theme, though the Night Sky is still a possibility. (Pale pink and blue are icky anyway, and some of the pastels in many nurseries give me the creeps. Duckies will be acceptable; bunnies are under review.)

As a style snob I do have guilty pleasures, of course: in my personal life it's Mary Englebreit, and with respect to my baby it could turn out to be "classic Pooh" items based on the original Ernest Shepard drawings for the real A.A. Milne books. Those are colorized in pastel shades, and might not fit with the oceanic theme. We'll see.

But here's my real baby furniture/layette question for the night, directed at the parents out there: Are my husband and I supposed to share a diaper bag? Do I get a reasonably masculine one in black or denim blue or some such, and whoever has the baby for the afternoon takes that along? Or will we each have a diaper bag preference? Can I get one for myself that's more colorful than the average guy would carry around?

I guess the answer depends on that whole singleton vs. twins question. I've been suspecting lately that we might have to settle for a singleton, but Attila the Hub is correct: we're broke. Which would make twins a good deal more likely, if you accept that the Universe/God has an excellent sense of humor.

The idea of how much money the first year of parenthood is going to cost makes me crazy—especially after all the infertility treatments, and the adoption fees themselves. But any project can be approached with a spending plan, and I shall simply have to make one up, and find the money to get what we need.

For some reason, I feel it's going to happen in the spring, though there's simply no way to tell at all.

Posted by: Attila at 01:41 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 This is so exciting I can't stand it.

Posted by: k at November 13, 2005 05:04 AM (M7kiy)

2 I can't give you an estimate of first year costs beyond OH. MY. GOD. As for the diaper bag question you can do one - think of it as the baby's and not your's. As for what it looks like, it doesn't really matter. A guy can get away with just about anything if it is for/with the baby. I can recommend this, even if you have 2 diaper bags, keep one or two extra diapers and some wipes in every vehicle. Just in case. Beyond that, it's all good. Very. Very. Good.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at November 13, 2005 07:14 AM (ics4u)

3 Cost of baby=Annual income. Count on it. Diaper bags: use a gym bag. Cheaper and carries more. Keep one in each vehicle. What do I know? I'm a guy. My wife handled all the little details (and most of the big ones since I was deployed when my kids were that small). Blessings!

Posted by: olddawg at November 14, 2005 09:00 AM (7nc0l)

4 Some advice from an active Frontline... With the first kid, you can think for a few moments about form over function: colors and patterns of bags; scented vs. unscented wipes; disposable vs. cloth diapers. But, believe me, by kid > 1 it's function over form: recycled newspapers over disposable diapers. Go with function and use the saved "decision" time for sleep.

Posted by: littlemrmahatma at November 14, 2005 09:03 AM (SodBL)

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