When I was 20ish weeks along with Julia I became completely fixated on finding and assembling a crib for her royal highness. The nesting bugs smiled upon one overzealous Grace and a just-go-with-it Simon and we lucked out by finding one in immaculate condition at a garage sale down the street. Simon put it together with relative ease and impressively few curses and then you know how many times she slept in that bad boy before we took it down to move nine months later? She was the only child that had the distinct pleasure of joining her parents in their palatial queen-sized bed (we've since upgraded to a double/glorified twin because that's all that fits up the attic stairs and Simon reminds me of his diagonal-sleeping sacrifice every single morning) until she eventually moved to the portacrib right next to our bed when she was four months old. Once we moved she settled nicely into her garage sale cage until (very) recently so the crib wasn't a total waste of nesting zeal and lettuce, thankfully.
And how were we supposed to know this was how it would go down? We couldn't ... and I'm sure I wouldn't have listened to the bevy of veterans telling me that a traditional crib wasn't an absolute necessity just like you shouldn't listen to me and my gear diatribes because everyone has different preferences and different babies with different temperaments. So for what it's worth ... here's what we're still loving and housing after three babies-turned-toddlers ... 1. Kiddy City N Move Stroller - I actually won this in a blog giveaway (thanks Darlene!!) and to be honest I didn't have crazy expectations because aren't all umbrella-type strollers created equal? We took it down to New Orleans when we had just Theo in tow and were really impressed with it. It folds up easily, takes to bumpy sidewalks like a champ, reclines (he was only three months old so this was great for napping on the go), is tall enough for Simon to push without crouching (he's 6'1 ... not a giant or anything) and is shockingly sturdy.
We keep it in the trunk of the van now and I use it almost every time I visit Simon at work and highly recommend it to anyone in the market for a single umbrella stroller ... plus it comes in a ton of fun colors which is really the most important feature ... as we all know. 2. 4moms Breeze - At the highest tier of any baby gear must-have list would be a portable crib. We have three (I know - a grip needs to be gotten over here) and I wish I had just gotten over the aesthetic hangup, bypassed the regular crib route and gone with a portable version. 4moms sent the Breeze a few months ago (not expecting a thing in return ... truly!) and this thing is phenomenal in all the ways a portacrib can shine. It's a little bit bigger than ye old traditional portable crib (which is nice because Sebastian sleeps in it now), it folds up with the literal push of a button (SO appreciated on that fateful night that our furnace went out) and is virtually indestructible. Sebastian pushes that thing to the four corner of the earth/his room and climbs in and out and in and out and in and out the good Lord knows HOW many times before he finally settles into sleep and the Breeze takes it like a champ.
I have to admit my favorite feature is that it came with a waterproof sheet (that can be ordered separately, of course!) and has saved me many a mornings from having to baking soda the bleep out of the mattress to get the odor out. Longest novel short: I love it and also highly recommend it to YOU. 3. ExerSaucer - any exersaucer will do. We borrowed one for Julia and Bash and finally bit the thrifted bullet and bought one at a secondhand store for Theo and it was worth every penny. All three babies have loved them despite their wildly different personalities. Theo is almost 14 months old (and not walking but still .... he old) and he still loves a little stint in the saucer when I attempt a workout or try to speed fold some laundry. 4. 4moms rockaRoo - technically we haven't used this yet because 4moms sent this just a little too late for Theo to reap the reclining benefits (through no fault of their own!) but enough of my friends have raved about this (see Anna's take here) and the Mamaroo that I'm pretty confident baby #4 will be a lover of the roo.
About 4 second after we brought Julia home from the hospital we realized we needed some sort of reclining seat for her and grabbed this one from Target. Both boys have loved it as well and I'm fairly certain the Rockaroo will be will our happy replacement for our old standard AND the swing we've been borrowing from generous friends for a few years ... in May. I'll be sure to let you know all of my thoughts in a few months. You know how I do. 5. Phil and Ted's Vibe - (the Vibe is heavier than the Explorer - or so I've read ... any Phil and Ted's is awesome ... I'm assuming) I'm terrible at scoring cool old furniture on Craigslist but I've had decent luck finding used baby gear. Simon was on call one weekend when Sebastian was just a few months old and I still wasn't completely confident taking the kids out of the house Hans Solo and I was going really insane in the house for the trillionth day in a row. So I scoured the List and decided that between a few used BOBs and this .... this was the best deal in the greater St. Louis metro area.
It was less than half the price of a new jogger and had been used fewer than half a dozen times. I've told many moms that I would've paid full price for this thing because I used it every single day for months and months and months and months before Theo arrived. We still take it on trips (and it's great in airports because it fits through doorways unlike a lot of double joggers) and it saves us because both big kids can still fit comfortably and happily in the back seat. Do you need a fancy jogger to take two kids on walk/runs? No ... but we had a cheaper jogger with just Julia and there's a huge difference when you break into a run with the wobble and turn factor. If you can borrow a nice one or find a used one ... jump on it, says I. 5. Ikea's ANTILOP Highchair - I wish we had this. It's only $25 in the store (well, $19.99 for the chair and $5.00 for the tray so .. yes that math is correct, $25) and St. Louis is slated to get an Ikea right before we move and you better believe I'm grabbing one on our way out of town.
I like having a high chair with a tray because space at the table is limited and it's so nice to just dump the tray of leftovers, hose it down, and move on with your life rather than deal with mashed whatever all up on the table/placemat/etc. Anyway - the one we have isn't very easy to clean and this one looks so simple to clean ... or maybe I'm an idiot. Baby Trend Infant Car Seat - this came as a set with our first jogger and I like it because it's small and light and the cover is really easy to remove and clean but I know (oh, I know!) there are so many better options on the market. Ours has taken a beating but it's still in safe and working order. I'm not a big advocate of having a car seat that clips into a stroller because I'm fine with either wearing the newborn or just toting the car seat into wherever I'm going/usually a shopping cart but I know a lot a of people really appreciate that feature. Mountain Buggy Urban Triple Stroller - another Craigslist find. The family getting rid of the chariot had a set of triplets, a set of twins, and a singleton (!!!!) and I've never been so thrilled with a baby gear purchase.
Unfortunately, they don't make these anymore (not a huge market? I'm not sure) but if you are a runner and have three stroller-sized kids and can find one of these puppies used ... It's really easy to push, turns beautifully (yes, beautifully!!), and I can run with it on our not-so-smooth neighborhood streets with zero problem ... even with baby #4 in utero. No, I don't know what I'm going to do when the baby is born but I can at least wear him/her initially while speed wogging and get Julia in shape for her first round of Couch to 5k with super fun, super postpartum Mom. Bumbo - I know people have mixed feelings on this but all three kids have been huge fans of the Bumbo - as documented by about 8 million photos sprinkled all over the blog. Make sure you get the one with the (now standard) seatbelt and watch them like hawks because depending on how strong your offspring is .... they can flail right on out of this when they put their little minds to it. Julia and Sebastian figured out how to twist his way out of the seat pretty quickly and Theo ... never even tried.