First, this is not a “how to” post for registering… There are many different ways to do this, and of course the situation you’re in may be very different than mine which requires you to register like: second baby is a different gender or pregnancies are far enough apart that you no longer have things to name a few. Here is my situation: I am expecting my second little boy who will be only 19 months behind our first amazing boy… so when we announced the gender to our families I just assumed I wouldn’t need/didn’t want to bother anyone with another baby shower. Well, my mom and sister insisted that I won’t always have these opportunities and just because I don’t “need” anything doesn’t mean I don’t get a baby shower. I tried to convince them to double it up with my birthday so that people could either get something for me or the baby, making it more efficient for everyone and they both asked, “why would you ever have one party for yourself when you could have two?” I suppose I’m just not that person who wants a party fuss over me…. I throw the parties for others, that’s my job and my comfort zone! So there I was not even planning to have a shower and then now having to think of what on earth to register for…
Again, my list is not actually a “how to” but more of how I practically and logically approached this situation and gleaned out of all the baby things in the world what I could possibly need having just had a little baby boy. We already have every piece of furniture, carrier, equipment and “gear” our house can fit, clothes overflowing storage tubs and adorable blankets in every corner. So I went after the expendables: High frequency items with high turn over rates that we went through a LOT in baby #1’s first few months to a year. Some are very out of the box, some are obvious, but regardless, this is what I would want to start off Baby #2…there ended up being quite a few more things on that registry than I originally thought there would be!
Dreft Baby Laundry Detergent: I did not register for this the first go around, and wish I had…. We go through so much especially using the reusable diapers! Every single trip to the grocery store we were adding one of these to the cart! I really need to find a way to make my own baby soap, like I do for our adult laundry… but babies skin is so sensitive you almost have to buy it…. please leave a comment below in this post if you know a great recipe or alternative!!! Thank you!
Liquid Hand Soap: Before and after EVERY diaper change, breast feeding, pumping, you get the idea, you have to wash your hands. So for this registry I am spoiling myself a little bit and putting a great smelling, soft hand soap on there! What the heck! We go through it and I might as well smell better than milk or poop! At least for the next 10 minutes right? Especially since you’re only going to get a shower once a week!
Rechargeable Batteries: Again, not on my first registry and an upgrade for our household. So this would fall into the category of spoiling mom….All those great things we registered for with baby #1 one, the swing that rocked him, the mobile, the pack and play with the light fixture, my breast pump, etc. guess what? They all need batteries, and not only that, the batteries you put in them last about a week since you’re using those things every single day for HOURS. So instead of throwing our tons of batteries I would really like to start recharging and recycling them throughout my house! I added a few of every size from AAA to D on the registry list along with the chargers.
Masking Tape: As baby gets older, he starts pulling on things! The cord to the baby monitor was our biggest battle… but also as a mom there are so many great learning and teaching activities you can set up for your 6+ Month to yearling! I can’t believe how much tape I’ve gone through putting letters and flashcards around the walls, making clean-up boxes, hiding cords (even more when they can crawl!) and taping down sensory bags! When the babies were learning to crawl I would tape down sensory bags around the floor to give them a destination to obtain. It worked extremely well and they could find things in it while they were recovering from the journey to it! Bottom line: You can NEVER have enough masking tape! Cash and Missa are learning The Clean Up Box here. See THAT POST
Toilet Paper w/ Aloe:
Bounce Dryer Bar: Seriously the best thing ever invented… I mentioned earlier that you are doing a ton of laundry, which will only get to be more intense now with a second baby. I had a hard enough time remembering important things, much less throwing a dryer sheet into the load, so these really helped me stay sane! But you do go through them a lot in the first year. Worth every penny.
Diaper Genie Refills: I think this is self explanatory. Those diapers have to go somewhere! Especially the disposables!
Breastmilk Storage Bags: The intent is to breast feed for as long as you can bare. I struggled to make it a full six months because I was getting back spasms that actually landed me in the emergency room the first time, us thinking I was having a stroke/heart attack/gallbladder explosion, when really your body just isn’t used to using the posture muscles required to breast feed (my back issues history aside too) so I pumped enough to last another 6 months to get him (Baby #1) through the first year on bottled breast milk… so we thought. Our 6 month calculation that I slaved away for chained to that pump was gone in about 10 weeks! We eventually had to switch into formula. It has its pros and cons too, but there is no room in this post for politics on the subject 🙂 Plenty of other blogs for that! I started with the Medela bags that go with our pump, but honestly they didn’t store as well in our freezer due to the shape. The longer, taller, narrower bags can hold a lot more milk and be frozen way more flat for storage. Medela bags come with this nifty hole in the top to hang from the pump shields, but I just snipped a slit into the Lansinoh or Target brand bags to make them hang the same way! Way cheaper too!
Baby Wipes Refills:
I hope that gave you some insight into the needs of a second time mom. If you are currently expecting your second bundle of joy and don’t think you need a baby shower or a registry, perhaps after reading you’ll reconsider! I know I have!
Another great thing about this second shower is that people can (according to my sister) spoil the soon to be mom of boys with some girly things if they don’t see anything they want to contribute from the registry. There is a lot less “pressure” I guess we’ll say on this baby shower to prepare you as there is for first time moms.
I also think it is a great opportunity to support handmade things that perhaps can’t be found in stores to add to a registry! I am a huge Etsy fan, so I have been shopping for baby #1 and now #2 often. I created an Etsy Registry in the form of a treasury for things I would love to have this time around too! Items in the first two rows of the treasury (top 8 in the picture to the right) I already have and highly recommend, where items in the bottom two rows are new things I would love to try! Take a look, feel free to ask me about any products I already use with Cash (first baby) if you are registering for Baby #1 and enjoy some great creative people!
Do you know what else a Mommy wants?
FOOD!
Make her some Freezer Meals for the first few weeks home!
Check out my Recipes and Labels HERE
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