CREATING A BABY REGISTRY: Getting Started (Part 2 of 7)

With so many types of baby products - and so many brands - sorting through it all can be overwhelming. Rather than ask yourself "What's working for everyone else?" the best way to manage the madness is to take a step back and ask "What's right for me?"

When it comes to getting ready for your mini-me, knowing what you want (and need!) is half the battle. There are certain things – especially big-ticket items or those that babies only use the first few months of life – that you might want to consider getting secondhand. Furniture (e.g. cribs, dressers and changing tables), activity centers, high chairs and bassinets are all viable secondhand options. Bassinets in particular are only recommended for the first 3-6 months of a baby's life (depending on manufacturer recommendations on size and how soon your baby sits up), so unless you plan on having multiple kids AND have ample storage space, bassinets are a wonderful hand-me-down or marketplace item. I’ve heard mixed reviews on re-using bassinet and crib mattresses though, so you might want to research the topic further to make an informed decision.

DO AN INVENTORY OF HAND-ME-DOWNS
Are friends and family passing anything down to you? If so: yippee! Hand-me-downs are the best. If you can, check out those items before you register, so you know what’s coming your way – and what does or doesn't suit your needs – so you don’t potentially waste a registry purchase.
 

KEEP AN EYE ON GARAGE SALE SITES & LOCAL YARD SALES
Getting ready for your little one can be costly, but less so if you consider buying big-ticket items used. Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and Ebay are among the many places you might find like-new products for way-less-than-new prices. As always though, be careful if you're meeting up with someone to pick up an item. Don't go alone, make sure you meet in a public place and if a listing gives you a weird vibe, trust your gut and pass.

SAVINGS v. SANITY
Saving money is great, but not at the expense of your sanity. Things like nursing pillows and baby carriers can lose their shape over time, so make sure you like the way the item fits and/or feels. Compare them to new items in a store to make sure the condition is on par with what you need.

DON'T STOCK UP ON ONE BRAND UNTIL YOU'VE MET YOUR BABY
No matter how prepared you think you are, some kids – including my own – will throw you curve ball after curve ball. For example: you buy 12 of one kind of pacifier, and your kid rejects it outright. But you’ve already opened and sanitized them all, making them impossible to return. So keep in mind that with certain things, you might not want to go all crazy stocking up until you know for sure what your kid likes. We’ll explore this more a little later, but here are a few items you might want to go easy on until you know what works best for your little rebel: pacifiers, bottles, diapers, wipes and baby food.

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ALL SET? SKIP AHEAD TO WHICHEVER SECTION OF THIS GUIDE WILL HELP YOU BUILD THE REGISTRY OF YOUR DREAMS.

TIPS FROM PARENTS WHO WISH THEY'D KNOWN BETTER

MYSTERY MUST-HAVES: ESSENTIALS WE HAD NO IDEA WE NEEDED

THE NOT-SO-ESSENTIALS: THINGS WE GOT BUT LATER REALIZED WE DIDN’T NEED

CAR SEATS & STROLLERS

THE DIAPER DILEMMA 

BOTTLE BASICS

CREATING A BABY REGISTRY: Tips from Parents Who Wish They’d Known Better (Part 1 of 7)

We're all working together to put our bad registry decisions behind us.

Baby Registry Hindsight is 20/20
When my husband and I set out to create a baby registry, two things became apparent:

• We had no idea what we needed.
• We were in way over our heads with this whole baby thing (we already knew that, but attempting to create a registry magnified that realization by an infinite degree).

Trips to Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us (R.I.P.) helped us get an idea of what was out there, but with way more aisles than there were people on our baby shower invite list, the sheer volume was overwhelming. We had to go to each store multiple times before we finished our list, and each trip was more unpleasant than the previous. 20 kinds of diapers, 42 types of bottles and what felt like 10,000 strollers and car seats?

It was just too much. And the fact remains, we didn’t really understand what we needed – and what questions we should be asking – until it was too late.

So I decided to put together a list of questions to consider when compiling a registry. It’s by no means comprehensive; rather, all it does is capture a few key variables we wished we’d considered prior to baby’s arrival. It would have made those first few months of parenthood easier, cheaper and – most importantly – less stressful.

I’m giving each topic its own post, so you can skip to whichever one(s) you need.  If you have any questions about anything you see here – or you'd like to see me cover an entirely different topic – please leave a note in the comments.

GETTING STARTED

MYSTERY MUST-HAVES: ESSENTIALS WE HAD NO IDEA WE NEEDED

THE NOT-SO-ESSENTIALS: THINGS WE GOT BUT LATER REALIZED WE DIDN’T NEED

CAR SEATS & STROLLERS

THE DIAPER DILEMMA 

BOTTLE BASICS

Universal Thread Clothing Line "Drops" at Target

She's only with him for his pockets

I'm going to be perfectly honest here: I hate shopping for clothes. I know, I know. What kind of woman am I? One who doesn't cave to archaic gender stereotypes, I suppose. That said, I do have a soft spot for Target designs. And since I seldom venture to real clothing stores, picking up a pair of jeans while stocking up on cat litter is pretty much a match made in retail heaven.

So when my one pair of Denizen jeans had been pushed to the limit (which is to say: literally cracking at the seams), I added "jeans" to my shopping list and headed to Target, where I found their newest exclusive clothing line: Universal Thread.

"Wonderful!" I thought. "Two dollars cheaper than Denizen, but the material feels like it will have more than a three-month lifespan!"

So I tried on a few varieties before settling on mid-rise skinny (for the record: I normally despise skinny jeans and really wanted boot cut but, alas, their only boot cut offering came with rips and tears that would draw unwanted attention to – rather than hide – the fact that I live on a strict budget). I was otherwise fine with my decision until I removed the tags, washed the jeans, tucked in my cell phone, and then...

Dropped. My. Phone.

I'm not even kidding. The phone is stuffed into the pocket as far as it can go.

You might think "Oh, it's more than half in. My phone will be safe here." But you would be wrong. The simple act of sitting will force the phone out of your pocket. Ditto with a brisk walk.

Yes, that's right, smartphone users. These jeans absolutely cannot accommodate a standard-size phone (and certainly not anything of the “plus” variety). In the vertical position, not even half of the phone tucks into the pocket. In a horizontal position, about 1/4 pops out. So you put your phone in the horizontal position, nervously hoping the phone gods will bless your device and keep it safe from harm. 

But. There. Are. No. Phone. Gods.

In the past two weeks, I have dropped my phone near (but not "in," thank you fictional phone gods!) the toilet on two occasions. On hard cement: four times. On walks when I almost didn't hear the "thud!" as it landed on a softer surface: three times.

In short: it's a miracle I still have a working phone.

But it's not just "large" items like small phones that pop out. I've lost tissues, cough drops and keys. The pockets on these babies have been an absolute nightmare. And so I say to Target and Universal Thread:

1. Pocket form should follow pocket function. If they aren't usable, they're useless.
2. Women need pockets, too. A lack of functional pockets on women's clothing is an age-old problem, AND IT HAS TO STOP. (This is pretty much the same point as #1, but it bears repeating).

This pocket issue has been discussed ad nauseam, but instead of listening, the fashion industry just keeps giving us "slimming" designs (that's how Target describes the Universal Thread pockets) that serve zero functional purpose.

To be fair, I've since checked out the pockets on their hole-y boot cut model, and I'm happy to report they seem to be somewhat more realistic – though still not quite up to snuff.

Horrible pockets aside, there are some pros to this brand: the material is soft and flexible, and they are – as I mentioned before – slightly cheaper than Denizen despite being better made.

That said: I still deeply regret the purchase. Unless Target volunteers to replace my phone in the (inevitable) event that it is lost or shattered, these jeans are a ticking time bomb and must be destroyed. Sure, they only cost $25 up front, but I’m thinking $825 big picture.

I don’t know about you but I, for one, refuse to pay $825 for jeans. And I will never, ever again purchase pants without doing a quick “phone fit” test.

I suggest you do the same.

PS: It took incredible restraint for me to not include a “Universal Dread” joke in here somewhere. Oh, look! There it is now.  

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IN SUM: universal thread jeans

A REVIEW HAIKU
“What’s that sound?” you ask.
Just my phone hitting the ground.
Better pockets, please.

PRO/CON OVERVIEW
Pros: Affordable, durable and decent flex to the fabric
Cons: The front pockets are useless

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY
Don't buy without trying them on -- and testing the pockets. Walk around and sit down to see if your goods stay where they belong.

Netflix to Charge Users $1 for Failing to Rewind Videos

Be Kind and Rewind – or Pay Up

LOS GATOS, Calif. – Netflix announced on Monday that they will soon begin charging users a $1 fee if they fail to rewind a video after watching it. This fee applies not just to streaming services, but DVD and Blu-Ray rentals as well.

“Our call centers have been overrun with complaints from customers who’ve attempted to view movies from the beginning, only to find videos starting midway through,” said public relations manager Stephanie Meriwether. “We didn’t think this was possible, but we had our movie scientists look into it, and they confirmed the problem is caused by users failing to rewind videos, thereby leaving the movie at some random point when the next user goes to watch it.”

“We had to hire a team dedicated specifically to rewinding DVDs and streaming videos,” Meriwether continued. “This $1 penalty will help recoup that cost without further raising monthly fees for our more responsible customers.”

Netflix is already rolling out a $1 increase in monthly fees for its most popular plan, and insists the two increases aren’t related.

When asked about this penalty, many Netflix customers were baffled.

“Is this an April Fool’s joke?” asked one user. “Or some lame attempt at humor that you’ll find on some unknown chick’s quote unquote ‘satire’ blog?”

Another was determined to step up her BE KIND, REWIND game.

“I remember my mom telling me once about machines that did nothing but rewind videos,” said Dakota Masters, 20. “I guess I’ll look into getting one of those, because I really don’t want to wear out the rewind button on my remote.”

The Past, Present and Future of Thanksgiving

The first-ever Thanksgiving in the United States occurred, by most accounts, in 1621. Wampanoag Indians were invited to attend, in thanks for helping the Pilgrims survive their first year here.

Within 50 years, more than half of that tribe died from smallpox -- introduced to them by the Pilgrims -- or from King Philip's War (a war fought against the colonists who were attacking them and taking their land). Many who survived that war -- men, women and children -- were sold into slavery.

We all know what happened after that. Tribes were slaughtered, enslaved, and/or pushed further and further west onto small patches of land. Comparatively few remain today on these "reservations." And while we might feel we've come so far since those times -- that we're better people now than we were then -- the present continues to challenge that notion.

Today the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) threatens the water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Tribes from across the country have gathered to peacefully protest the pipeline, and have been joined by environmentalists and even U.S. military veterans. Many police dispatched in the name of DAPL have refused, or gone home. Because it's easy for anyone to see that what's happening in North Dakota is wrong.

But that doesn't mean the battle is over. There is a lot of money -- in very greedy hands -- supporting the pipeline, and as we know in this country, the people with money are the people with power. And so the standoff continues.

This week, water protectors were attacked with water cannons (in freezing weather), tear gas, concussion grenades, and rubber bullets. I watched live feed from these events and can see no violent acts on behalf of the protesters that would warrant this assault. Hundreds were injured; one suffered a heart attack; and one woman lost her arm (it was hit by a concussion grenade).

All because they're peacefully protecting their water. The most basic of human needs. The most basic of human rights.

Without it, we die.

The struggle in North Dakota isn't quibbling over property rights.

It's a fight for survival.

The lack of moral outrage -- and abysmal media coverage -- of these events is little short of heartbreaking.

So as you give thanks today, as you enjoy time with family and friends, please don't forget our nation's past. Or its present. If we keep turning a blind eye to both, there's little hope for the future. 

If you have the means, please consider giving to the people fighting, peacefully, for their cause. If you can't afford to donate, there are other ways you can help. 

Water cannons and tear gas -- a chemical weapon banned from international conflict and many police  forces around the world since 1993 -- dispersed on water protectors camping out near the pipeline. Photo credit unknown to me, but if you have his/her information, please send it my way and I'll update the post.