Catch Up Here

If you’re all caught up then you know part of  getting ready for our growing family meant getting the house ready for our growing family. Because we had our first nearly a decade ago + moved cross country, we knew we’d be starting over with everything — with no hand me downs and nothing in storage. Ooof.

Enter the baby registry. 

Even though everything would feel like the first time, thankfully it isn’t actually our first, so be it for essentials around the house, “nursery must haves”, or just the everyday items new babies need, we turned to our first registry for guidance; and just like our first registry, it started out as a massive shopping list to help us gather everything we’d need — must haves, nice to haves, and everything in between. 

Unlike our first time, we wouldn’t be having a baby shower to go along with our registry. Not a shower. Not a sprinkle. Nothing. Just the registry. Living on the west coast, we have very little — like a handful — friends & family nearby. After doing a lil bit of googling, we landed on having a baby shower “by mail” where friends & family could shop our registry & we’d dedicate one day to opening everything, then send everyone pics & thank you’s. Easy peasy.

P.S. in case you’re wondering why not a virtual baby shower via Teams or Zoom or some other live streaming option — after working remote for so long & having to be on constant video calls, the last thing I wanna do is voluntarily hop on a video call & deal with all of the possible tech headaches. No thank you!

How did I go about building our baby registry the second time around?

So glad you asked!

Feeling completely out of practice, I leaned A LOT on friends who recently had babies, baby registries/shopping lists from influencers; and, like I said, our very first registry. If you read my post on preparing #thehyggeranch then you know our current registry kinda sorta ended up being identical to our previous registry. While I may not remember a whole heck of a lot from back then, what I do remember are the items we loved, hated, and wished we had. After going through our first registry and removing items we hated and/or items that are no longer available, I got to shopping! 

Our first registry was hosted on Babylist, which at the time was still relatively new. Fun Fact: Babylist is only 13 years old! I was really happy to see it’s still around & as amazing as I remember it. Why I loved Babylist then — and now — is because as someone who shops multiple retailers, I loved having one dedicated registry to corral all the store options… one giant shopping list… one link to share with family & friends. If you know me, then you know I love my Amazon lists (my public ones live on my Amazon storefront). I use private lists to track shopping ideas & this is how I began my Amazon registry. Yes, I created an Amazon registry.

Walk with me…

As I’d add items to my Amazon registry, I’d simultaneously be adding them to my Babylist registry. One of the perks of Babylist is that I don’t having to go hunting down items across different retailers. Their product matching feature — I think of it like an algorithm — searches to see if items added are also sold elsewhere (ie. Amazon, Target, Walmart, or even Babylist itself).

Add to Amazon. 

Add to Babylist. 

Babylist adds the other retailers it finds, and from there I added items found at Target to my Target registry. 

*record scratch*

Albie, I thought you said your registry is with Babylist?!

While Babylist has been our primary registry — especially for sharing — it certainly isn’t our only. Why not? 

Having a baby registry with other retailers like Amazon, Target, and even the recently reborn BuyBuyBaby allows us to take advantage of each retailers registry discount — usually 15% — and get a welcome gift full of product samples. Both the discount & gifts are clutch, especially when starting from scratch. I mixed up what I bought from which store based on the completion discount — Amazon’s discount can be used multiple times for a savings up to $300, Target’s discount can be used once online & once in store, and Babylist’s discount is one time use only — while also strategically considering item prices & availability.

Across these three welcome registry gift boxes, we received —

• six (6) bottles

• one (1) bib 

• one (1) onesie

• one (1) swaddle blanket

• one (1) thermometer

• one (1) pacifier

And then a number of samples — wipes, diapers, diaper cream, lotion, body wash, milk storage bags, and detergent — and product coupons. There were even a few samples for me, like electrolytes & skin care. Note to whoever packs these bags — include more postpartum items for mom, not limited to nursing. I recommend some FridaMom & Momcozy products. 

Note: at the time of writing this, Walmart was (and has been for some months) sold out of their welcome gift, however, they have one too!

A lot of what I mentioned to prepare our home for the miniest’s arrival was included on our registry —

• baby bouncer 

• changing pad

• crib & bedding

• diaper pail

• hamper

• play mat

• rocker or glider

…however you’ll notice that this is a significantly shorter list than the one in that blog post, and this certainly isn’t the entire registry. That’s because our registry isn’t just for items we’d need in the house — it’s literally everything we’d need to prepare for baby’s arrival. 

What’s On My Baby Registry… The Second Time?

• stroller

• car seat incl. additional base for second car

• carrier

• pack & play

• travel essentials — changing pad, wipe dispenser, pacifier holder, etc. 

• books

• kimono & regular onesies — short sleeve & long sleeve in varying sizes

• pants

• gowns & long footed onesies

• hats, mitts, socks, and other wardrobe accessories 

• diapers in varying sizes 

• wipes

• diaper pail

• changing pad liners

• diapering essentials — diaper cream, wipe dispenser, changing pad liners, etc. 

• bathtub 

• towels & washcloths

• bathing essentials — body wash, moisturizer, shampoo, conditioner

• nursing pillow

• bottles for feeding & pumping 

• bottle drying rack & cleaning tools

• burp cloths & bibs

• nursing essentials — nipple cream, lactation massager, pumping bra, breast warmers, etc. 

• post partum essentials — ab binder, peri bottle, recovery underwear, perineal witch hazel, etc. 

• swaddlers & blankets 

• diaper bag

• stroller caddy

• pacifier & pacifier holders

• first aid essentials — thermometer, nail clipper, nasal aspirator, medicine dispenser, saline, gripe water, etc. 

And I would be remiss if I didn’t also include some nice to haves, as well as some unexpected must haves such as a house cleaning fund and food delivery gift cards. 

I prioritized items for baby, of course, however I also wanted to make sure this round I thought of myself & the family, since this is a journey we’d be on together. What would I need to heal & recover & settle into this new role? What would we need for our quality of life & to make sure we could be our best selves for the new baby? How could we let our loved ones show up for us if we don’t tell them what we need? I learned from the first time that sometimes the things we’re most hesitant to ask for — especially as a mom — are what we need the most… so I included those this round. 

Scroll to Shop

There are countless resources on the interwebs these days to help with baby registry "must haves" very much like the list of "nursery must haves" I shared in my last post — influencer round ups, youtube videos, brand blog posts, parenting forums, and so many more will tell you everything you need for when your baby arrives. While I did check out this resources, mainly because most didn't exist when we had our first, I didn't hold myself hostage to these recommendations. There is no one size fits all. Some of the items on Babylists's Most Registered list are items we ruled out for one reason or another. While they may be exactly what someone else needs for their baby, their family, and their lifestyle, that doesn't necessarily make it the case for everyone else. Discernment was key... ensuring we weren't distracted by the latest & the greatest in baby items, and that we wouldn't end up with a lot of clutter in our home. I began planning our registry after our first prenatal appoint and had been editing it ever since... even while writing this, I'm still making edits... adding & omitting based on a number of factors. As far as I'm concerned, in addition to being a shopping guide, it's a living resource... ever evolving... never "finished".

Wanna Shop My Registry?

As I mentioned at the top of this post, I didn't share my registry publicly, however, what I did publish are nearly a dozen new idea lists on my Albie Knows Amazon Storefront, which include items I registered for plus SO MUCH MORE! After scouring every corner of the interwebs for new baby shopping advice — not taking the advice doesn't preclude me from seeing what people are buying! — I created lists for everything from travel to feeding to playtime, and even pregnancy & postpartum items for mom. Hopefully, if you're shopping for yourself or someone in your life, this'll save you a bit of the proverbial legwork to find what you need. And if you wanted to shop my registry just out of support for me, remember that I earn a small commission for every item your purchase when you clink my link & check out. Those commissions are now all officially going right into our baby expenses.

A PEAK INSIDE MY REGISTRY

Creating & editing my registry during this pregnancy became one of my favorite things to do. It was a great mental distraction — hello… shopping! — especially on the more difficult days... and I had a lot of diffcult days. I would lose myself in the browsing & planning, and in many ways, it became therapeutic. Sharing my registry was more challenging than actually creating it — relinquishing “control” and letting other people help… letting other people be part of our proverbial village. We were truly blessed to have friends & family check off a lot of the items on our registry pretty early on, which gave us a head start on getting things situated, despite not having a formal baby shower.

At the time of publishing this, our registry completion discount will have JUST expired. Once everyone was done purchasing gifts, we would go in & purchase things as we need em + getting a few pricier items ahead of time like a convertible car seat for when she outgrows her infant car seat.

All in all, our baby registry has served as a running shopping list for us first, and a resource list for friends & family second... and trust me when I say, we bought quite a few of these items ourselves! Our baby registry is basically a catalog of things we knew we would need no matter if someone else got them or not, things we still hope to have, and all the different ways we think we’ll need help for at least the first year of the miniest’s life… which is also a new consideration for us — thinking about the registry beyond the first few months & going as far out as a year for all of the items listed. 

We are thankful to have had this resource for us to refer back to after working on it for months & months ahead of time. And even though we've exhausted all of our registry discounts, these lists are going to be our shopping guide for a long time and that works perfectly for the way we shop — lists for everything! So now what was our baby registry is our running baby shopping list... be it for day to day shopping or upcoming birthdays. It'll now be a destination for all the things we hope to get mini no 2 and a sort of blueprint for all of her shopping to come.