I haven’t posted much lately, and I apologize.  With the upcoming baby delivery date pending (he was due 5 days ago on May 15, but he doesn’t have a calendar in there, so I guess we can forgive him being late just this once…) there have been a lot of doctor’s appointments, ultrasounds, pediatrician shopping, and so forth piled on top of my usual workload and keeping me fully occupied. 

In mid-April I had a very nice and generous baby shower hosted by my sister Laura with tons of books and clothes, and I have been working on writing what seems like a million-and-one thank you notes after that.  I am also told I will be "even busier" after the baby is born.  After learning that babies eat every 3 hours around the clock, I don’t doubt it!

The Cost of Having a Baby

I have been keeping track of baby-related expenses, but haven’t posted much lately (mostly because my husband and I haven’t had to buy much for the past few months…) but here are some updates, complete with the last-minute purchases I realized I couldn’t put off any longer once the baby was considered "full term" a few weeks ago.

1. Crib and Dresser – THE MOST EXPENSIVE ITEMS.  We were given these items as a gift, but the new equivalents are $200-$500 each at Babies R Us.  We also got a used Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper which is a small crib we can use when we are traveling, or when the baby is small and we want to keep him with us in our room.
2. Crib Mattress – This is sold separately from the crib, but all mattresses seem to be the same size so it was easy to shop for.  We bought our new inner spring crib mattress for $79 at Target.
3. Diapers and Wipes – I finally realized that we would need some of these in the house BEFORE the baby came.  I shopped online at Diapers.com and found that most diapers there were about 17 cents each (disposables) when purchased in bulk and shipping was free on orders of $50 or more. 
   Shortly thereafter, I  found some diapers at target for $0.13 each which I knew to be an incredible bargain, so we snapped up the Pampers Swaddlers for this price.  They turned out to be mis-marked and Target doesn’t really sell them that cheaply, but they honored their price and we got a bargain!  I have found out that you can get diapers for about 13 cents each at Costco stores, but we don’t have a membership there…
   Thus far in this category we have spent $55 for 2 boxes of 216 infant diapers and 2 boxes of wipes.
4. Car Seat – A car seat is a must-have item.  In order for you to drive your baby home from the hospital, you have to already have it installed in your car.  It has been really weird driving around with a car seat in the back seat of our Mazda, but no baby.  It’s definitely putting my husband and me in an anxious-waiting mode, reminding us that the baby could come any day!
   We got the cheapest new Graco car seat we could find.  It was gifted to us by my parents and grandmother, but the retail price was $99 at Babies R Us.
5. Swaddling Blankets – I have to say we got a MILLION baby blankets – more than we need considering the baby will be born right at the start of summer.  However, we didn’t have any big, square blankets for swaddling the baby to keep him comfortable and still (as recommended in The Happiest Baby on The Block) so I got 2 large (45" square) fabric pieces at the fabric store (and some fabric iron-on hemming material, since I don’t have a sewing machine) for $11.
6. Clothes – We got a lot of clothes (more 3-6 month onesies than he’ll probably have time to wear before he grows out of them!) from friends whose son had outgrown his infant wardrobe and new for gifts at the shower and from other folks!  We have not had to buy any additional clothes yet.
7. Returns – We got a number of duplicate items (especially blankets, clothes and books, at the shower) which we returned for store credit.  Now we have about $200 in store credit at various baby and department stores which we can use to buy some big-boy clothes once he’s a little larger.
8. Crib pad – I bought a mattress pad for the crib to go under the sheets and absorb leaks at night – $8 at Target.
9. Changing pads – I also bought 2 changing pads so we can change the baby’s diapers when we’re out and about and not near the changing table at home – $9 at Target.

Total for this reporting period: $264 spent – not bad.  Thanks to all the friends and family who helped keep our costs down!  Once the baby is born… I feel like we’ll be responsible for absorbing more of our own costs!

Popularity: 24% [?]