Conundrum Two: Car seats

Hello again friends.

Blog update #1: Based on the lovely feedback we received from the nursery post, we purchased the bird sheets this weekend! (I received more feedback via text as some were unable to comment. This is unfortunate and I hope that goes away.) We also purchased some elephant sheets that I think will go in the room that Mike REALLY liked. Combined with the two sheets my sister has offered, I should be ready for any and all baby messes, crib edition! (Please say I only need 4 sheets...)

Los elephantes, Mikel's amor.

 I figure birds and elephants are cute together, amIright?  I'm thinking I may buy this print to tie the whole thing together.

 

Or THIS. Though we'd have to wait to see what we're having and then also come up with a name. And this is a giant wall mural and I'd only want it hung in a frame. Semantics. 

Or we could just put Vulture on it for posterity.

Okay, so conundrum 2, car seats. When new, impressionable parents-to-be visits a fine establishment such as the Buy Buy Baby, the sales people LOVE to share their knowledge on the greatest, best, and SAFEST for your soon-to-be mini human. Which is lovely and appreciated, but also leaves you wondering what you really need and how much you really need to pay. The helpful and sales-minded gentleman from Buy Buy Baby suggested strongly that we buy a car seat that has "baby airbags" for lack of a better term. Supposedly the only way to go unless you want your infant to die dramatically in a fiery crash. He neglected to mention that the super-safe car seat cost roughly 100 more US dollars than the non-airbag equipped.

Equipped with dual-side airbags, will protect your baby in case of fire, earthquakes,
landslides, avalanches or any such natural disaster.

I'm for safety, I AM, but here's my issue: I'm pretty sure we were strapped in the back of my mom's Camaro to a 2x4 with a lap belt. Somehow I am still here to wonder which safety seat is an acceptable vessel to place my own baby.

The 2013 version of the 2x4

I discussed this with my lovely sister, mother-of-two, and she assured me that the "baby airbags" are unnecessary and that both Lucia and Lyla used the same car seat when they were young, sans airbags. She went on to say that now Lyla has a grandma-purchased top-of-the-line booster seat and it is "awesome." So I'm not really sure what she was trying to tell me. Do I want "good enough, baby probably WON'T die" or "awesome, but overpriced?" So weigh in, ladies, baby airbags or Camaro 2x4?

Conundrum One: The Nursery

The first poll for your valued opinions comes in many parts:
I have some, what I think, are good ideas for the nursery. First, the room is already a nice sage green hue, so I've checked "find wall color" off my mental list. At a recent wedding (this is what we do now at wedding receptions, I guess), H and I found some bedding that I enjoy, and I *think* is "gender neutral." But you go ahead and judge for yourself.

Birds, fitting for a baby with the moniker "Vulture," no?

I would most likely get both birds and grey stripes for sheets. H and Jan told me that the pretty quilt is unnecessary because babies do not sleep with quilts, so I will most likely not be purchasing that.
Questions:
1. Do you think the yellow is okay if we have a boy?
2. Do you think yellow with the green walls will look alright if there are white curtains (which conveniently, have tree branches and birds on them)?

OR do you think we would be better suited to find something green, because as I was looking up the photo of the bird sheets and I came across this and I sure like it. Which is greater? Birds or xoxo?

Boys like hugs and kisses before they snuggle to sleep, yes?

 Next subject: A crib. Now, I sure like the grey crib that is pictured with the bird sheets (if you're on the actual site.) There are not a lot of grey crib options, but I have found a few. Most of them are in the higher price range and I'm resistant to go that route. There is a nice looking grey crib that is also a good price, but it is online only. I am nervous to buy a crib that I have never seen in person, therefore can not judge the quality. Has anyone purchased a crib online without seeing it/would you do such a thing? Am I being too paranoid?

Said online-only grey crib. 

Last question today. Many of the cribs we saw when we went on our first "baby buying adventure" (a terrible name considering we actually bought nothing) were convertible from crib, to toddler bed to full size bed. This seems awfully appealing to me, outside the fact that they are roughly triple the price. However, it makes sense to perhaps buy a nicer piece of furniture that you will be able to keep and will grow with the child as opposed to a crib/toddler bed that they will sleep in for, what, 5 years? (I guessed, how long are kids in toddler beds?) Second however, will that nice piece of furniture still be nice by the time it becomes a full-sized bed? Or will the baby claw and scratch and bite at it so it is perhaps ready to be recycled by the time that baby is ready to sleep in a full size? 

This eventually becomes a toddler bed, daybed OR a full-size bed. Fancy.

So the question is: Crib-toddler bed or crib-toddler bed- full-sized bed? Thoughts?

Welcome

Well, this is no surprise to any of you, but I am now 17 weeks into creating our very own human. It has thus far been a fairly smooth process, an incessant need to go to bed in the 8 o'clock hour and a newly developed aversion to chicken aside. The papoose is now the size of an onion and it is slightly more recognizable that there's a baby in my belly and not that I've been eating too much pizza.

This is what my baby looks like. Err something. 

Mike and I are starting the process of buying a whole lot of stuff. Apparently miniature people need things, lots and lots of things, and I am more than somewhat overwhelmed by trying to find the balance of what we NEED vs. what we might WANT and what is good and safe vs. what is overpriced and provides a false sense of security. It occurred to me that instead of creating hundreds of facebook polls for advice and opinions and annoying 3/4 of my facebook friends in the process, I would create a blog and invite my favorite people to read it to weigh in (if they so choose) on the myriad of baby-related decisions we will be making within the next 5 months. Plus, I thought this would be a good way to chronicle my first time doing this whole pregnancy thing and hey, if I'm motivated, keep those who want to see copious photos of baby Vulture with his BFF Sven in the know. It's also *possible* I'll need some advice at that time.

Oh right, why do we call the baby Vulture? Charming story really. Recently we took a trip to Colorado with our friends Brian and Sarah. While we were having lunch one day, they were asking us about baby names that we liked. (Sidebar: we have really no progress in that area, but I'm sure more on that to come.) I mentioned that I liked the names Wren and Lark for a girl. Brian looked at me quizzically and said, "Why do you want to name your baby after a bird? If you're going to do that, you should name it after a cool bird, like Vulture." Boom, perfect en utero name for the couple who is not finding out what they are having (Much to the chagrin of some of you, I know). So there you have it.

I look forward to all of your thoughts and advice and HELP in the next few months. And with that, Sven has the desperate need to sit on my lap, making it impossible to type. Things could get interesting when his new best friend arrives...until next time.