Yet another thing I swore I'd never do...

Making a baby registry after a first baby.   Yeah, I did it - turn me in to the Etiquette Hell people right now.

We want to upgrade our infant car seat.   We loved the Chicco Keyfit that we got as part of a travel system before Lily was born.   It's absurdly easy to install correctly (even a seatbelt install) and to use, and we liked the color/fabric choices much better than any of the alternatives at the time.   Unfortunately the stroller that came in the travel system is a behemoth which in the end we only used a handful of times.  In mid-2010 the travel system with the 22 pound Keyfit was still quite popular and we didn't want to spend the extra money on the system with the Keyfit 30, so we didn't.

Lily transitioned to the Boulevard in my car at 9 months and then in Mark's car at 11 months.   She had not outgrown the Keyfit yet; that would have happened by length (really, torso height) somewhere around 13-14 months.   What if Wiggle isn't as skinny as Lily was?  I know people whose kids hit 22 pounds at 6-8 months, which would put a June baby right smack dab in the middle of winter when outgrowing a 22 pound infant seat.   We really want Wiggle to get through his/her first winter in the infant seat.   We don't have a garage, so loading a non-walking kid into the car is substantially easier when you can strap them into the seat in the house, pile blankets on top, and then just snap it into the base.   Add snow, ice, and cold wind and a 3 year old to wrangle and it becomes really important to streamline the process of getting into and out of the car as much as is humanly possible!   Our existing bases are compatible with both the Keyfit and Keyfit 30 so there's no need to make an additional investment there.  With the Babies R Us trade in event, we can trade in the Keyfit for a 25% off coupon that we can use on a spiffy new Keyfit 30.

The other part of this is getting a Chicco Liteway Plus stroller to replace the big Cortina.  We went and checked it out last weekend at BRU and it's really a sweet option.  First you use it as a stroller frame with the Keyfit - the seat just snaps in.   Then, it converts to a normal umbrella stroller which most babies can ride in from around 6 months or so.  Lily took several test rides in toddler mode and liked it so much she cried when we tried to take her out!   Mark and I both liked the way it handled and how lightweight it is, plus the umbrella fold is a dream - even smaller than the City Mini.   I got a little award at work that comes with a monetary bonus that after taxes will cover the cost of the Liteway Plus (especially with the 20% off coupon that we'll get from the purchase of the Keyfit 30).

If you have a Babies R Us/Toys R Us rewards card, you get points for spending money in those stores.  You also get registry rewards points for anything on a registry that's purchased for you.   Besides the car seat and stroller, there are some other things we'll need to buy for Wiggle's arrival - mainly bottles and bags for me to store breast milk, plus my beloved Medela micro steam bags and cleaning wipes. They're not really expensive but they do add up and you need to buy a lot of them; a box of 100 milk storage bags or 100 Drop Ins for bottles only lasts around 5-6 weeks once I'm back at work and sending bottles to daycare.  Plus while I plan to sew and to shop at Once Upon A Child for wardrobe needs, I want one or two cute and wholly unnecessary items bought just for Baby Wiggle - maybe some Aden & Anais swaddle blankets!    Babies R Us mails you a completion coupon a few weeks before your due date - I won't pass up a 10% off coupon for things that we need and would be buying anyways.

So I made up a registry.  I always thought it was kind of tacky to do that for babies after the first, barring a situation like having multiples or a very long age gap where parents would have gotten rid of all of the baby stuff (and if they'd kept it, it was probably expired).   I certainly don't expect (or want!) a baby shower, "sprinkle", or anything of the sort for Wiggle.   But we want the reward points and we want the completion coupon, so we went ahead and did it - my apologies to Emily Post!