Baby Loot

During this interim phase of being too big for my own clothes, but not big enough for maternity, I've been robbed of my favoritest of favorite pasttimes- online shopping. Thus, I have resorted to: 1. Complaining.

2. Rigging my current wardrobe with the help of Bella Bands. 3. Picking out supercute stuff for Sprout.

This all started weeks ago with the discovery of the most perfect baby bag ever, ever, EVER. A whimsical creation from Kate Spade, in gender-neutral and Gator-appropriate navy and orange, there really is no other baby bag for me. Er. For Sprout. I am currently accepting donations toward the purchase of said bag- although, I'm not opposed to enlisting #1, above, to get my bag from Mike Baby. (Sorry, honey... But then again, see #2, above, for a taste of what I'm currently doing for our fam. Suffice it to say I'm taking one for the team!) See the cute little pacifier and safety pins! SO friggin' precious. I'm in love. Yes, with a bag. Can you blame me? Of course not.

Next, of course, was the issue of a nursery. As I've mentioned before, I am super excited about planning a gender-neutral nursery, which affords me the luxury of selecting accessories from any genre. I had but one major factor to consider- Mike's insistence that there be a large rendition of a T-Rex flying an F-14 Tomcat included in the nursery decor. The image hails from a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, and is not negotiable by any means. If Sprout's a girl, a pink bow will be added to ol' T-Rex' scaly head.  Many of you may be wondering why I agreed to this, and my wholehearted response is, how incredibly lucky is Sprout to have a papa who is so adamantly involved in the arrangement and decoration of his/her nursery? Besides, I have my whole nesting plan laid out and will proceed to steamroll those plans right on over anyone who gets in my way, up to and including Mike Baby and the dogs- so the least I can do is jump on board with the T-Rex pic.

So, I proceeded to shop nurseries until I found one that will suitably blend with the pic- and I absolutely love it! It's from the Land of Nod, which we unfortunately do not have in Florida- however, the majority of the items are available online- yay! Land of Nod is Crate and Barrel's children's home furnishings line, and I can't gush enough about how cute their stuff is. The nursery is called All Creatures Great and Small, and T-Rex will look just fine up on the wall next to all the other critters. Plus, there's an "under the bigtop" circus-tent style toy storage that just makes me happy. In fact, I'm pretty sure I need one of them for my own room!

In keeping with the critters theme, I did make my first nursery purchase in Savannah over the weekend- a darling baby bluebird clock that says "Time Flies."  It's a Two's Company creation, that I got for 40% off at the closing sale of this awesome store called Vintage Home. This clock, a pair of lovely handmade Jill Schwartz earrings, and a tea towel with a chocolate chip cookie recipe on it, were among my fave souvenirs from the trip- and I'm so happy to have my first baby item in hand!

Of course there are other items we need to start stockpiling- diapers, bottles, warmers... the list goes on and on, as most every new mama figures out. We're going to just start buying things a little bit at a time so we're not hit with big-ticket items at the last minute, and so it's ever-important to keep an eye out for good deals and to make sure we know what we want so when the time comes to purchase, we're not in a state of indecision. I know I'm only 10 weeks right now, but hey, Sprout's over 25% complete at this point, and I have 0% of my preparation done! So, for any current mamas reading this, I'd much appreciate a list of your favorite can't-live-without baby items that have really saved your life- brand suggestions, what to stay away from, what you found out that you didn't really need, etc. You can always just leave a comment, or email me at tamara@herchel.com I'd be so grateful! So far I've got a basic list started, but I find myself easily distracted by all-too-frivolous items like these:

Oh, they're happening. Mike disagrees, but what does he know about infant fashion?! Boy or girl, my precious darlin' Sprout will have their lil baby feet warmed in these adorable baby boots. After all, their first 6 months will be during fall/winter! Of course we gotta keep their feet warm!

And we gotta keep my feet warm too... with these magenta boots. Teehee. *When I first saw these, Mike threatened to ban the Ugg Australia website from our home computer. Luckily he has no jurisdiction over my office computer because I just love these boots! For those who are not Ugg fans, well I bought my first pair in December and I am a devoted convert now- they're like walking on a pillow! And while Sprout won't be able to walk for quite some time, I'm sure that he/she will appreciate the fact that, if they could, their feet would be cushioned.

And remember, if ever you need some retail therapy, I am pregnant and hormonal and totally capable of justifying any purchase you make- the perfect shopping buddy!