Wants vs. Needs

In the weeks drawing closer to finding out the gender of our baby, I am becoming more and more baby-shopping hungry! I wanted to hold off on buying some stuff, mostly clothes, until we know for sure what we are having. However, there are some things I've been contemplating purchasing now because I am going for the gender neutral idea since we plan on having more kids in the future. It would be nice to not have to repurchase everything if we end up with a different gender baby next time. 

To start, we already have a lot of stuff. Thanks, Mom and hand-me-downs from sister and friends. 

We have a crib! We actually have two cribs. We have one that the previous owners of our house left here, but it is a drop-side crib, which means we would have to find some way to secure that first before using (because of the recalls). Daniel also has a co-worker that is offering us their crib too, which apparently is not a drop-side. So either way we decide to go, we are covered in the crib department. 

We also already have a cradle! It was something that my Great Grandpa Womack, who was incredibly skilled in wood working, made for each of his grand children. My mom used hers with all four of us (myself, and three siblings) and I plan to use it for our little beh beh too for at least the first few months. 

The Cradle my great-grandfather made. Ignore the blankets. Right now it is being use for storage :) 

We also already have a Pack N' Play. Something like this one. My mom got it for $5 at a thrift store, but it is pretty much brand new. She also got us a baby carrier and jogging stroller as well. Not sure the brands on either of those. I'm also not sure if the carrier will work while the baby is little, so we might consider getting something else to carry a newborn. 

We still NEED: 

• An infant car seat
• DIAPERS
• Clothes/shoes/socks
• Baby monitors
• Baby bath and other hygiene essentials
• Breast pump (and all that goes along with breast feeding)
• A Boppy and/or Breast Friend nursing pillow
• Crib/cradle bedding, swaddling blankets
• Bottles/binkis 
• And probably lots of other things that I am not thinking of right now. 

We are going to create a registry, but I'd rather wait and do that after we know the gender for sure. Just makes shopping a lot easier. There is some gender neutral stuff, but it is pretty few and far between. 

The WANTS:

• A belly bandit (for me, obvs)
• Nursery decorations
• A bassinet (just because it would be easier to roll around for nap time, etc.) 
• Some kind of bouncer/swing (I know some babies don't even like these, but I always think they are fun)
• A Bumbo chair (not sure you can even get these anymore. Thanks, silly recalls!) 
• And I am sure this list will continue to grow as time gets closer. 

We are extremely lucky that we have had so many things given to us already. Makes saving money for this little one's other expenses a lot easier! 

For you BTDT (been there, done that) mommies out there, what baby items did you find absolutely essential when it came to taking care of the baby and what items were you given that ended up gathering dust? 

Hope you all are having a lovely Labor Day!! 

xoxo

Samantha