The Great Baby Gear Debate

1 day away from being 17 weeks and I am already throwing myself into research regarding baby gear shopping!!

There are just so many options out there and I am really at a loss as to which way I want to go.

(1) First of all, whilst I've ALWAYS wanted a Phil & Teds Sport (you may remember my dribbling over it when TTC). DH even gave me the go ahead to put the $700 pram and doubles kit on layby but.....

I've found a few other options that are a little less expensive and more 'baby friendly'.

(2) I was pondering the pluses of using a sling again like we did with Ella. Granted it wasn't for very long as she out-grew it quickly. It'd save us money by not having to purchase a new pram and Ella could keep her stroller for as long as she needs it.

And to compliment the above, I was contemplating buying the Safe n Sound Unity baby capsule (3)for baby to use for the first 6 months to make sure that Ella is, indeed, ready for the booster we've put on layby. And a bonus of doing this is that the capsule will fit onto our existing stroller without having to buy a new one to accomodate bub (it doesn't fully recline).

However, each of these options have their negatives.

For example:

1) Price. Whilst I know it will be money well spent I am also finding it hard to justify that sort of money for just a pram. And I do not know how long Ella will need a pram for so perhaps a bit of overkill (even though the P&T is light enough to use as a stroller with new bub)

2) The sling idea with a toddler as well may not work out so well unless Ella is in a stroller too. The sling will not be a long term thing as I'm sure bub will outgrow it soon and I'm not sure how long I could carry around a big bub for.

3) I cannot really see a negative with this apart from the fact that if Ella needs a sleep or gets tired of walking, there is no seat for her. This is where the P&T was so appealing.

If it were a perfect world I'd get the P&T and the capsule but then there is not much point in having the stroller. Or the capsule for that matter.....

A few other things I've been pondering getting:

*A glider chair for breastfeeding
*An electric breastpump to ensure best breastfeeding relationship possible this time around!

I've also been stocking up on new MCN (modern cloth nappies). I've chosen a brand called Baby Beehinds which are a one-size-fits-all (OSFA) fitted nappy. Fitted basically means that they need a cover. I've also invested in some terry toweling flats (old fashioned cloth nappies) and was tempted to try those out on the newborn. If that fails they can be used as burp cloths :)

I have quite a lot of MCN from when Ella was younger but they're all mediums and mostly girly so they could become redundant if the next bub is a boy!

Speaking of which. I think DH and I have decided what we're going to do regarding finding out the sex of bub. Our next scan is on the 12th March so we don't have too much longer to decide!!

I have offered the suggestion of this:

I find out what bub is but he doesn't. He doesn't really want to but I kind of do. So this way, it'll still be very exciting that one of us will have the suprise of finding out at the birth.

So this is the plan for now but we'll see if it changes in the next few weeks.