[This is my own naive philosophy before my baby has come so take what I say with a grain of salt. If you’re a seasoned mama you’re going to know what worked/didn’t work for you.]

And what I’m getting might not be what you think you need, and I might be skipping something that you think is a necessity.

I don’t know about you but the one time I went to Buy Buy Baby I was overwhelmed by everything in there. And if you look at most registry lists they give you online it’s soooo much stuff.

And the point I want to make today is yes, there are so many baby items that you’re going to end up swearing by, but how do you know what that’s going to be before you even have your baby?

My approach is to get what I know baby is going to need. And I feel like the three important things are:

What is baby going to eat? Are you going to breastfeed, pump and bottle feed, use formula?

What is baby going to wear? I was #blessed to have an older sister who let me borrow as many of my nephew’s clothes as I wanted. I’m set for newborn - 9 months at the moment. I’ve also heard that newborns are just going to chill in onesies or sleepers most of the time so there’s no need to get them cute, complicated outfits.

Where is baby going to sleep? In their crib, a bassinet/pack n play, side car sleeper, with you in a cosleeper? You want a safe, firm place for baby to sleep, free of pillows, blankets, toys, crib bumpers, you name it. And don’t forget the ever so popular rock n play has been recalled.

At the end of the day baby really only needs you when they start their life on this side of the womb.

I’m waiting on a lot of games, toys, swings, other contraptions. It’s not that I don’t want them or think they’ll be useful. I just don’t know if I’ll need them right away.

I’ve also tried to get things that can be reused, grow with baby or are multifunctional. Getting reusable diapers that can grow with them, a convertible carseat that I can use from birth to when they’re a toddler and a dresser to store stuff and throw a changing pad on top (even though I don’t know how often I’ll use it).

I’m going to be writing another blog post closer to the end of the month sharing what I got vs. what they say you need. And I’m also going to be making a few videos about the different things I got for baby but I haven’t gotten that much of it honestly.

What were the things you couldn’t live without from the beginning and what things do you think you could have waited to buy?

While I became an aunt to two awesome girls this past October when Michael and I got married, there was something magical that I got to experience this month.

My sister giving birth to my nephew, Maverick.

You see, we didn’t always get along, Veronica and me. But now that we’re both out of school and have our lives, we’ve started to talk more and more. And then over the course of her pregnancy we started talking even more, almost every day.

She let me pick her brain, and ask her everything I wanted to know about pregnancy and her experience with this and that.

She put up with my obsessiveness to say the least.

Then she asked me to make a video from his birth, and said I could be in the room.

How freakin’ exciting!

I left town when she was 38 weeks, and told her to hold him in at least until I got back.

The following weekend at 39 weeks I got a phone call from her as I was setting up for the last kid’s triathlon of the season. She had been told by the doctors to hang out in Des Moines for the afternoon because she was feeling crampy, etc.

Then I got a text from my brother-in-law as I was finishing up dinner with the team. “We’re in triage waiting for a room.”

Once I figured out what exactly that meant I made a joke to everyone about how I had to go catch a baby, and left to go grab my things from home.

Michael found someone to replace me in the morning just in case I didn’t make it back to the race and I headed up to the hospital.

She was progressing along nicely, bouncing on her ball, walking laps in the halls, keeping a really cheerful mood throughout it all.

Then around 1:30 a.m. the nurse told her to try and get some rest so we all tucked in for the night.

After getting her water broken in the morning, being hooked up to Pitocin and crying through the pain as they kicked up the dosage of Pitocin she was well on her way to pushing.

Watching her handle the contractions and the pain was impressive, but nothing could compare to what followed.

Her sheer determination to push that little guy out. And she did it in what seems like record time, not even an hour. If you’ve never watched someone give birth I highly recommend it. It was incredible, magical, inspiring. My sister is a bad ass.

And then he was there.

To finally see this tiny little human that you’ve been thinking about and waiting months for is such a surreal moment.

I haven’t been able to look away since. Analyzing every detail possible of his little body. The way he holds his hands up near his face. The way he sucks in his lower lip when he sleeps. His teeny tiny fingernails. The way he cried when he was born.

As I write this he’s just a few days old. I’m in awe and hopelessly in love.

To have this human come into your life that you know will be there until you die is a crazy thought to wrap your mind around.

I cannot wait for all the moments and memories to come with this little guy. Not to mention copious amounts of snuggles and kisses.

And then I can’t wait to experience it all again.

You Don't Need to Buy EVERYTHING Before Baby Gets Here

Being an Aunt + the Magic of Birth