The countdown has begun....

Now that we know for a fact it is a boy, the Type A planner in me has already reorganized both bedrooms in my head and made a mental list of the things we need to do before the baby arrives and the things we need to buy.

Fortunately, there is not much we need to buy as far as big ticket baby items and clothes go. We were very fortunate that our family hosted a shower for us when we had Jacob and we received 90% of the things we would need and we registered for all gender neutral items since we were hoping for at least 3 kids. Sitting in our basement, we currently have a swing, a bouncer, a Chicco car seat, a Snap N Go AND a double stroller ready to go. This is all I need to keep baby entertained and to transport him around the first few months. Since Jacob was also due in July (and came home from the hospital in July at 7 lb 9 oz at 4 months old) all of his clothes are the appropriate sizes and seasons for this child. No need to buy anything in that department although I am sure we will be picking a few things up for this baby so he can have some things that are just his.

Now for a list of things we DO want/need:

A crib. We took a hand-me-down crib from my SIL that belonged to my niece. It was great at the time to get something like that for free, but it is a rather cheap Delta crib and has now been through 3 children (my niece, Jacob and Grace). It has been rattled to the core so that it is not as sturdy as it once was and has been chewed to bits by my little beaver Jacob. The paint has practically chipped off on one whole side of the drop side and oh yeah....it is a drop side. A double drop side to boot. Basically even with the recall kit installed to immobilize the drop side it is a death trap. We are buying a new crib. I was leery of this crib from the beginning since it received a D rating in the Baby Bargains book, but it was free and seemed like a good option at the time. Since the boys will be sharing a room, I am about 95% sure I am going with a Da Vinci crib in oak. The crib has great reviews, is rather inexpensive as far as quality cribs go and I have purchased two Da Vinci toddler beds that are great quality and were very easy to assemble. Since this is most likely our last baby I do not want to spend a fortune in that department. If I am able to find a rather inexpensive one I like in Oak it will match Jacob's bed since his bed is a Da Vinci in the Oak color. For the time being, I am thinking of going with this one:



Next is a Miracle Blanket. These are rather expensive (about $30 a piece) but it is the only thing that would keep my needs-to-be-swaddled-at-all-times-for-the-first-few-months babies IN the swaddle. We registered for the Swaddle Me with Jacob, but the velcro is awful and he busted through that thing every single night. Same with Grace. We ended up tossing them in our yard sale pile and purchasing a miracle blanket. It guarantees us all a full night of sleep! I need another:



Boppy Newborn Lounger (or something of the sort). We are anticipating a lot of on-the-floor play and interaction with the older kids and the baby (supervised of course) and thought this might be a good option so that we can sit on the floor with the kids and they can interact with the baby. It is also a good option for when the baby is cat napping next to me (again supervised!):



Aden and Anais swaddler blankets. These are our back-up to the Miracle Blanket and they also make great lightweight receiving blankets for throwing over the baby in his car seat or in the car. I didn't discover these until after Grace was 6 months old, but I wish I had discovered them sooner. I had a whole bunch of Carter's receiving blankets and they are awful. The material is great and they wash well, but they are the oddest shape and it is impossible to swaddle a baby in them since they are more of a rectangular shape then a square. We always had little baby feet hanging out of them. These are expensive, but Target has a new Aden and Anais line for Target that I might try out. They are sold in packs of 4 for $29.99 instead of $45 for a four pack on the A&A website. I hear the quality is not as good as the traditional, but we will see:



Picky Sticky stickers! I LOVE these stickers and although not a necessary purchase it is definitely something I will be purchasing for this baby. Remember this post from Grace's first birthday? I love looking back through these pictures and seeing how much she grew over her first year and these stickers are just a genius idea. I had to tape pieces of paper to the wall behind Jacob when I did his pictures since I was not aware of these stickers:



When Grace was born, we moved Jacob into a big boy room and Grace took over the gender neutral nursery which was yellow/green and full of bumble bees! The nursery is being transformed into the room the boys will share since it is the bigger of the two bedrooms the kids are in. I LOVED the way Jacob's room turned out so I plan on just transferring that entire design over to the new room. We even have a half gallon of paint left in the basement so it should be rather easy to complete. I am not a fan of cheesy character themes or licensed kids' bedding so we went with a color scheme and just worked around that (sky blue/navy/chocolate brown). We bought the Kasey striped toddler quilt from PBK for Jacob's toddler room and did the entire room around that and those three colors. It is very modern and neutral and the room can grow with both boys. We will just change out the accessories as they grow to cater it more to their age.

I am excited to get started!