Sometimes I wonder what all I’ll learn when baby number three comes around. Because between one and two I learned so much! I haven’t necessarily parented differently, but if I had to sum it up, I’d say I’ve parented simpler.
For example, when Max was born, I left our baby bath in storage. Although I used our big ol’ whale on occasion with Jemma, I usually just co-bathed with her. Since we were in the middle of a move when Max was born it was just simpler to forgo the baby bath. Even once we settled into our new home, the whale never graced the inside of our bathroom. Yep, co-bathing turned out to be the easier option and as soon as I get to some garage sorting, the baby bath will be on it’s way out.
I also learned that baby outfits aren’t all their cracked up to be. I’m talkin’ the whole shirt, pants, shoes, accessories get up. Babies live in pajamas. Or at least mine do. It’s comfier around their bellies and cozier for mid-day naps. Plus, my munchkins seem to fly through the little sizes and don’t see multiple seasons in one size until they hit 18-24 month clothes, sometimes 2t or 3t! So yeah, I’m simplifying the “cute” outfits from the little sizes and next round, the only clothing you’ll catch me purchasing is jammies.
Last, but not least, we barely used our infant bucket seat with Max – I think just for 2 months. Next go around, we’ll start off in a Diono Radian. These convertible car seats can rear face from 5-45 pounds, forward face from 20-80 pounds and act as a booster up to 120 pounds. In my opinion, they are by the best investment you can make in the car seat world. And, if you consider what car seats do and how much you pay for your vehicle, spending a little extra on a vehicle accessory like a car seat is a valuable investment.
So there you have it, no bath tubs, lots of pajamas and one car seat. What did you do differently with your subsequent children? Did you find yourself simplifying your parenting tactics?
/// Follow That Mama Gretchen on Facebook and take a peek at this month’s featured sponsor ///
(Visited 111 times, 1 visits today)
Totally true – with a second baby I found I had much more confidence which probably helped with simplifying.
I know we'll probably be simplifying even more with our 2nd, although we went pretty simple this time. We initially only had a few outfits (onesies really), a bath flower, jogger, and convertible carseat, plus a few books to read him. We still dontbpurchse much by way of "baby gear" as we don't see a need or purpose in it, especially with me being at home with Baby.
Yes! I love the thought of truly determining your child's interests/learning what will work best for them before creating their room :)
I was just talking about this with my brother. We are on baby number 4, he's on number 3, and we were discussing all the differences between gadgets and gizmos we felt we needed with number 1, vs 2, 3, 4. I had definitely learned a lot about simplicity in the couple years, from cloth diapering to feeding solid whole foods instead of jarred baby food, to letting baby wearing replace swings, bouncers, etc. Oh, and I can't forget my purposeful purchasing of gender neutral items for hand-me-downs! Baby number 4 will be our least expensive baby yet. Haha! And I whole heartedly agree with scratching the bucket seat off the list of baby essentials. They are so hard to carry after you have more than one child to worry about, SO much easier just to slip baby into a moby!
Yes! This is a great money saver too. Our first barely ever used her crib, which we bought expensive cute bedding for, and by the time she moved to her "big girl room" we were past all the baby decor. We completely skipped it with the next two, although my second would never sleep in bed with us, a pack'n'play was perfect for the first few months.
You're totally a pro in this area! The gender neutral clothing is super important to saving money and simplifying … although, I've found it harder as they get beyond baby and move into toddler/preschooler. There just isn't as much available. Even basic tops will have ruffled shoulders for girls and such :/
True! I just try to make the most of the more expensive items. Like shoes! Keens are our friends in the summertime!
Yes! Jemma and Max totally have Keens to share! Toms too and rain boots :)