Buying the big stuff

Sam914 · #1 September 28th, 2009, 08:59 AM

When did you guys start to buy your bigger stuff like gear and furniture? As you can probably tell by many of my other posts i like to get things done early... (for example i was done with all my wedding stuff MONTHS in advance, i literally was bored the last few months before my wedding with nothing to do!)

Anyway, so i've started looking at gear and furniture... so far i think i like Graco's Bombay pattern. Its red (my favorite) and so i consider red to be neutral enough for girls and boys. I'm obviously going to wait a couple of more weeks until after my 12 week scan at least just to make sure the HB is still beating away but is the "go ahead" pretty much after the gender scan for most people?

I dont want to get ahead of myself but i can't help but think if you buy slowly it takes some of the "sting" out of the cost right? Also did you guys buy the big things (car seat, stroller, highchair etc) yourself or wait until after a shower? I personally am not sure that i want a shower and i'm sort of a control freak and dont know that i want to wait for the essentials to come from someone else (since i know alot of showers arent until right befeore baby comes) i dont think i can handle waiting that long. My cousins baby was born in August and her shower was in July, she registered for EVERYTHING (furniture, gear, bedding) and i just couldnt imagine waiting that long and then have to get everything together and organized so quickly kwim?

I know this is kind of a broad topic but i'm pretty bored and procrastinating so lets just discuss when we started buying stuff

Christine-MA · #2 September 28th, 2009, 09:04 AM

We bought our own crib, combo unit, glider and ottoman. We ordered them right after the 20 week point. I wanted to do it early because I had heard some people's were special orders and took up to 8 weeks to come in. Mine were in before 2 weeks though.

We registered for the rest of the big stuff. My shower is at 32 weeks though, which I think is plenty early enough. If someone does ask you to host a shower you could always mention that you'd like it a little on the early side. Mine is at 32 weeks because my sister is due 2 weeks later, then Thanksgiving...so it just worked out that way, and I'm glad!

Etph007 · #3 September 28th, 2009, 09:32 AM

We waited until after the gender u/s to buy the crib, bedding and furniture. I registered for the rest of the big stuff and my first shower was at 30 weeks and my other shower was yesterday at 32 weeks- plenty early enough to get things together and ready. Ditto to Christine------ when I was asked about having a shower and asked about dates, etc...I said the earlier the better (because like you, I like to get things done well in advance). It seemed to have worke dout fine this way. I'd say unless you've got loads of money to spend... if someone offers to throw you a shower, go for it!! Because you'd be surprised how generous people who care for you are/will be. It's a huge blessing.

Celry · #4 September 28th, 2009, 09:34 AM

We bought our own cribs, changing tables, glider, ottoman, carseats and strollers. We bought one of the cribs and changging tables when we first started ttc because i liked it.We bought the ottoman before getting preggo too, but it matched the room and can be used after babies. We bought the other crib and table around 16 weeks. I am the same way. I have to get things done super early and had all my wedding stuff done. I had my nuirsery basically finished by 22 weeks, partly because we knew i may get put on bed rest and i wanted to be part of it. a lot of our stuff was purchased used from craigslist. we got amazing deals by buying when things were posted and not waiting for a certain week of the pregnancy.

my shower was at 28 weeks. plenty early enough to buy things we didn't get. i'm having another shower in a few weeks. my mom's friends wanted to wait until i could travel there to have one.

~April04~ · #5 September 28th, 2009, 10:54 AM

We bought all her cloth diapers before we were even pregnant...

Her clothes we started buying right away - just neutral stuff.. after we found out the gender (16 wks) we bought a bunch more clothes. My MIL bought her swing and bouncer at 16 wks as well.

Her nursery furniture we ordered at 20 weeks- it takes awhile to come in - so we're still waiting on it.

My shower is on Nov 7th (at 29 wks) - so we're waiting until after that to buy anything more.

ChristinaR · #6 September 28th, 2009, 11:08 AM

My parents bought us the crib which we ordered after our big u/s at 19 weeks. The changing table/dresser, my sister and grandmother bought for us right after the crib. I wanted everything done pretty early. We have the nursery pretty much done now. We are just waiting to see what we get at our shower to finish up the shopping. Our shower will be held at 33 weeks so I figured that will give us enought time to organize and buy what's left. I like to get things done super early too because you never know if the baby decides to make an early appearence.

Lauren S · #7 September 28th, 2009, 01:35 PM

We didn't order our furniture until about 26 or 27 weeks, but that was only because we were still working on finishing cleaning out and painting the nursery. I bought all of my bedding because it wasn't available at BRU (only online) and I didn't want to risk people not ordering it, so I did that early. I also bought 6-12 cloth diapers every month so I could space out the expense.

I didn't buy any of the big things like a stroller, car seat, pack n play, crib mattress, etc because I wanted to wait until after my shower. I'm glad I didn't because I received everything except my umbrella stroller! I had my shower early at 29 weeks so that I would have time to get everything bought and done after that with plenty of time before my c-section at 38 weeks. I recommend earlier rather than later especially if you are a planner like you said.

NortheastWifey · #8 September 29th, 2009, 06:52 AM

I think we bought our big stuff around 20 weeks or so. But if you want to get stuff earlier there's not harm in that! It's so fun and tough to not shop. I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did! I did wait until after my shower for other things that I felt like I could wait for but we did get our travel system, crib and bedding before that.

*Mommy2Camden* · #9 September 29th, 2009, 07:08 AM

We waited until I was about 20 weeks to start buying the "big stuff." We bought the crib, travel system and infant pack n' play ourselves then registered for the rest.

amazing_love · #10 September 29th, 2009, 08:44 AM

We'll probably wait a while longer to buy most of the big stuff. I do look around though and if i end up finding something for a great deal i'll probably get it. The only big item we have is a swing that was an excellent deal and we both loved it.

Sam914 · #11 September 29th, 2009, 09:04 AM

Thanks all! My other issue like i said i'm not sure if i do want to have a baby shower, gr

amazing_love · #12 September 29th, 2009, 11:06 AM

Oh yea Sam i remember you saying something a long time ago about how you don't know if you'd feel comfortable with a shower since you don't like to be the center of attention. Am i remembering this accurately? Maybe if you just have a very small get together and have only people who you're very close to come?

Sam914 · #13 September 29th, 2009, 11:23 AM

Yep Krista thats right! I HATE It, almost had a mental breakdown at my wedding shower, lol. Dh wants me to have one, so i told him fine if i do then you have to go but he keeps insisiting guys dont go to the shower, ugh. I guess thats a debate for another day

amazing_love · #14 September 29th, 2009, 11:57 AM

ha ha. That's funny. I know a lot of guys don't want to go. My DH told me a long time ago that he feels like he has the right to be there as much as i do because the baby is his as well. I'm like "okay, okay, that's fine with me"

So funny!

stlgirl · #15 September 29th, 2009, 12:44 PM

We're waiting and hoping that people will get us most of the big stuff for the showers. If not, we'll still have a good month and a half after the last shower to finish off buying anything we didn't end up getting.

Gray_baby · #16 September 29th, 2009, 02:45 PM

I HATE being the center of attention, however, I did end up having a shower. I really wanted to celebrate with my closest family members so my mom threw me a shower at the beginning of August (I was only 23 weeks or so), she lives in NC so my SIL drove from LA to FL to drive with me to my mom's and my shower was pretty small, like under 20 people, because I didn't want it to be a "big" deal, just an intimate party with my favorite people. Maybe you could suggest something like that? I admit it was pretty uncomfortable for me when I was opening presents and everyone was watching but it wasn't that bad because I love all the people that were there.

I waited until after my shower to buy anything for our LO. I registered for all the big stuff and a bunch of other stuff, except nursery furniture since we were buying that ourselves. I got the stroller, car seat, bassinet, swing and a couple other bigger items off my registry - so definitely register for what you want and make sure your shower hostess gets that info out to your guests.

We've since bought the nursery furniture over the last month, except for the glider I still want to get. And also we still need to buy the baby monitor we want. But that's really the last big stuff we're getting.