Personally I am all for frugality and restraint when it comes to purchases, whether they be for me or for the baby, and for that reason, I am planning on only buying the bare necessities for Ziggy and purchasing them used if possible. Of course our particular situation (namely all the moving we'll be doing in the first few months of Ziggy's life, including the big move to Japan when he's only 3-4 months old) necessitates that we exercise some restraint in our purchases and wait until we're settled in Okinawa before buying everything we need. Even then, I am hoping we can purchase a good deal from other military families moving away rather than from the Base Exchange.
That said, according to Baby Bargains, a book which I'd highly recommend to any prospective parent, there are two items that should always be purchased new for safety reasons: car seats and cribs. Given the large numbers of recalls on these items, as well as the fact that wear and tear, and even just sitting in a hot storage facility, can deteriorate the materials to a potentially unsafe degree, it makes sense to buy these new if possible. So, that's my plan: a new car seat to be purchased here in the states before Ziggy's arrival (most likely in CA), and a new crib to be bought later in Okinawa, because I really don't want to have to transport a brand new crib to Japan, only to have it end up lost, broken, or stolen by the movers.
In the meantime, I need to find a suitable bed for a newborn, one that will preferably last at least until he's about 3-4 months old (when we'll be in Japan and can buy a real crib) and be portable. My research has revealed the following options: bassinets, cradles, Moses baskets, co-sleepers, portable playpens (with or without bassinet attachment), portable cribs, portable infant travel beds, and of course, the old standby, a small suitcase or laundry basket (ok, I'm not really serious about the last one, but I did sleep in a small suitcase for the first few months of my life because my parents were poor and my Russian grandmother was superstitious, which meant no baby purchases until I was born). Although I am leaning towards one of the portable options, the safety of some of these items, especially when used as long-term beds, is questionable and something I'll have to look into further.
From what I've read and heard from other mothers, bassinets, cradles, and Moses baskets are a waste of money to buy brand new, and should be either purchased used or, better yet, borrowed from a friend. I do have a third cousin in California (she lives about 30 minutes from where I'll be staying) whose daughter is now about two and who would probably lend me some baby stuff temporarily while I'm there (of course I have no idea if she used a bassinet, cradle, or Moses basket, but it's probably worth it to ask). My mom also has a friend who lives nearby and recently had a child, and she might also be a source of temporarily loaned baby gear. It would be nice to be able to just borrow some of the things I need for the month or so that I'm there with the baby (now I am thinking it makes sense to just stay through Thanksgiving) and not have to haul everything to New Mexico. Plus, it would be a nice trial run for me to see what I can live without and what I absolutely need. Of course that means, once I get to New Mexico, we'll have to buy some of the things that we had been borrowing.
Note: Rambling tangent ahead! I just had a thought. I was planning on flying back East in December for the holidays to see family one last time before our move to Japan, as well as to show off Ziggy. What if, instead of going from California to New Mexico to Connecticut, I fly directly from California to the East Coast, thereby eliminating one trip. The main drawback is that Ziggy and AC will be separated for longer, which of course is a pretty big drawback. I'm worried that all these frequent trips will be too stressful for both me and Ziggy, but perhaps I should really be worried about AC not having a chance to bond with his son early on. Then, after the holidays, I can fly to New Mexico and remain there until we move to Japan in February. So basically in three short months, Ziggy will have spent about a month living in three different places--poor little guy! Is this plan completely crazy? Should I just stay in California the entire time, as AC has suggested, or fly to New Mexico and then just remain there and forego the trip back East? Anyway, all of this spur-of-the-moment planning is getting in the way of what was supposed to be a focused post on baby gear. Rambling tangent ended!
So, back to the main topic. We haven't yet decided on a baby bed, but I'm pleased to say, we have found a car seat we like. Originally I had thought to just buy a convertible car seat since it will last longer and be cheaper than having to buy both an infant seat and a convertible seat. However, since we wont know what size car we'll have in Japan until we get there and actually buy one, and there's the chance that the convertible seat we choose wont fit in the small Japanese car (I'm especially drawn to the Britax convertible seats, which are huge), I figure it's safer to buy an infant seat for now, because it's more likely to fit in a small car, and buy the convertible seat later, when we actually know what size car we're dealing with. Plus, the fact that the infant car seat can snap out of it's base and become an infant carrier is also a handy feature.
Anyway, after some research online and in the Baby Bargains book, I decided I liked the Graco SnugRide, so AC and I went and checked it out in a store. Once there, we encountered a newer model of the Graco SnugRide, the SnugRide 32, which can accommodate babies up to 32 pounds and 32 inches, and which supposedly fits 97% of one-year-olds (so it would last a lot longer than a typical infant car seat). It also just seemed a lot plusher and more luxurious than the regular Graco SnugRide. We especially liked the Zurich print (I think the brown and green could work for a girl too), which also happens to be the cheapest model on Amazon:
And instead of buying a separate bulky stroller, for now I think we're just going to get a stroller frame, either the Baby Trend Snap N Go or the Graco SnugRider. The Snap N Go seems to be better rated overall, but the SnugRider is guaranteed to fit Graco car seats, so it may be the better choice for us (I tried snapping the car seat into both frames in the store, and it did fit better with the SnugRider). Here is the Snap N Go:
And here is the SnugRider:
Anyway, that's enough baby gear mania for one day! I'll be back with more updates as I figure out what else we need for those first few months.
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