The Incredible Shrinking Wallet

All I can say is this kid costs me more money than I ever imagined and he's not even here yet!!  I don't mind, it's not like I can fit in those cute fall clothes right now anyway ;)

Fortunately, we have VERY generous friends and family and haven't really had to dip too far into the wallet to get the things we need for Ezra.  The problem that I'm encountering is all the things that I want.  Classic need vs. want struggle.  And anyone who knows me knows that I can usually find an excuse to buy anything... so this struggle has been particularly difficult as of late.

So this week I made a few major purchases.  Luckily, some gift cards took the edge off a little.

One purchase that I'm super excited about is my new Ergo carrier and Heart to Heart insert.  Here's a picture of the one we got:

Google "babywearing" and you'll find lots of posts and articles about the benefits of "wearing your baby" (you might also read some articles about people who think strollers are blasphemous and wear their babies nonstop - this also goes along with Attachment Parenting, co-sleeping, and Elimination Communication - seriously, google it) but this is the carrier that most people love and use through toddler age.  It is supposed to be best for using for long periods of time and best for the baby's development.  Apparently the Bjorn "hangs babies by their crotches" which paints an entirely different picture to me... not a baby in a baby carrier.

We decided to go with this one mostly because of all the reviews but also because we wanted something that was sturdy, will last a long time, and we can use all the way up through age 2.  I figure if we still want to do things like beach trips, festivals/carnivals/fairs, our nephew's sporting events, motocross racing - this might be more handy than a stroller in many situations.  Plus, I can lug the kid shopping and still have 2 hands to do whatever I need to.  Sweet.

I'm sure I'll let you know if it turns into a huge disaster.

Another big purchase this week was the rest of our cloth diaper stash.  I have been doing extensive research (-insert: avoiding work and abusing google) and I've found a new diaper that is very highly rated and people rave about.  Softbums

They are an All-in-2 system, which is different from the pocket system (BumGenius and Blueberry, read this post) and the fitted with cover system (kissaluvs, read this post).  The All-in-2 system is basically a cotton or microfiber insert or "pod" that lays inside a cover.  It isn't inserted it a pocket, just snaps into the back of the cover and goes up against the baby's skin.

The draw of this type of system is that you can reuse the covers during the day, unless they start to smell or there's some poop on it somewhere.  It means less laundry because you don't have to wash and entire pocket diaper every time you change the baby.  4 covers with a days worth of pods is less laundry than 12 pockets and a days worth of inserts.

This system still gives you the ability to adjust the amount of absorbency that you get by putting in more than one pod or adding a doubler.  It also helps you keep costs down because you don't have to use their pods inside the diaper, you can mix and match other brands of doublers/inserts/fitteds/ and also just use old fashioned cheap pre-folds folded in thirds.  The ladies at diaperswappers.com rave about them, the system, and how well the covers hold up to washing.  If you have problem with wetness and rashes, just put some cut up fleece inside for the same stay-dry effect.

Another great thing about Softbums (I swear, they aren't paying me, and I haven't even tried them yet) is that they are more adjustable than the typical one-size diaper.  I've seen pictures of these on 5 and 6 pound babies and 25 pound toddlers.  They have an adjustable elastic inside the leg opening with a small toggle that lets you really adjust the size.  I'm interested to see how that works.

I like the idea of having a few different types for different situations.  I'm not sure which ones Mike will want to use if he's with the baby for the day, or which our babysitter will want to use when I'm back at work or how comfortable grandparents will be trying something different.  It gives us lots of flexibility - and hopefully will make cloth diapering successful for us.

The final big purchase of the week - is actually my birthday present.  My birthday is in about 2 weeks, right around the time that Ezra will be here (we have a lot of October birthdays in the family - Sorry Memere).  The only thing I could think of that was really a splurge for right now that I really really wanted was a Vera Bradley baby bag.

I had a gift certificate to a store that sells them and with the gift certificate, it was a much more reasonable purchase.  Unfortunately the store only had 3 patterns of the baby bag - all of which were not on my favorites list, so we decided to go with a different bag, the Weekender.  It's a little bit bigger with one shoulder strap and lots more space.  The only downside is that it doesn't have the plastic lining inside the bag and it didn't come with the cute changing pad.

But it's gorgeous.  This is the pattern we got, too.  It's one of the new winter ones. Vera Bradley is also running a promotion (it runs until Oct 4th, FYI) that if you spend $75 you can get a free large cosmetic case, wristlet, or pen and paper set.  I love free stuff!

So this week, we'll focus our wallets back on groceries and bills so we don't have the heat turned off and Mike can go back to lunch meat sandwiches instead of Fluffernutters.  (I kid, I kid)  But really, who thought you needed all this junk just to have a baby??