I'm so happy I found this forum! :)

Welcome watermelon, Remember that you should never give Ibuprofen (Motrin) to a baby under the age of 6 months. I say after two babes adopted at birth, aside from clothes depending on your climate, the most important thing you will need are baby washcloths. I literally used 6-8 a day. By far the most worthless thing that I have is a changing table; never used it, not even one time, with two babes, now three and 14 months. Always changed them on the floor or my bed. Best of luck; I hope that your wait is a short one.

I would also suggest a baby sling if you will be traveling by plane. SO much easier to transport the baby that way and keeps both your hands free. Janet

I used the sling (mine was a New Native Baby Carrier) starting with my 2nd child and I had a hard time imagining how I had survived the infancy of child #1 without it. With my baby in the sling, I could get so much done around the house, go for walks, shopping, etc., while she slept peacefully. But the biggest reason I loved the sling is that there were none of those sudden alarming cries to alert me that my baby needed me in another room. I could feel and hear the baby waking up long before she got to the crying phase--she just had to look up and there I was. I wore kids 2 and 3 almost all the time during months 2 thru 8, and they loved the sling up until about 18 months, when they were too heavy anyway. My best friend couldn't use the New Native, she used an adjustable sling, and swore by that one, so if you want a sling you might want to try on a few types and put a bag of sugar in there to see how the weight is carried in the different styles. I loved my sling so much I never even loaned it to anyone after I didn't need it anymore, because I am afraid they will quit making it and I will want it for when I have grandkids! It is in the cedar chest with all my cherished posessions.

So, so true. Wearing babies rocks!!

Thanks for all this info, ladies! It is sooo helpful! Sneezyone (Adrienne), would you mind telling me what exactly a 529 savings account is and how it works? Sounds like a great idea! Right now we just have a regular savings account.Megaphonemo, thanks for the tip! The car seat is definitely on our sooner than later shopping list, but we probably won't get it before we start the homestudy (May), since there's no chance for a match before then anyway. But I agree, the car seat is top priority! :)Once again, thanks so much, ladies - this is great!! :D

Adrienne, how did you open a 529 before you had a kiddo? Thought you had to have a child first?

We opened our 529 with my DH as the beneficiary and then just switched it over once we had the new BC and SSN. :flower: OK so first let me say that I am not a financial planner so take this for what it's worth. :p There are two types of 529 plans. Savings plans (mutual funds) and pre-paid tuition plans. Most states and some private firms offer them and they are ALL different in terms of who can participate, etc. :rolleyes: The way our plan works, we purchase units of tuition at a slight premium (compared to 2005-06 tuition rates) and lock in the price so dd (or a niece, nephew or grandchild) can use it in the future. 100 units equals one year of tuition and fees at the state's highest priced university. So, no matter how high state tuitions go, we are assured that our 100 units will pay her tuition for one year. Make sense? Every paycheck and every gift we got, we turned around and paid into this account. Plus, although the value of the units is pegged to the highest price school in WA state, that value can be used at any college/university nationwide. We picked this option over a regular mutual fund-based account:[list=1][*]b/c the stock market hasn't be rising as fast as tuition rates. There's tremendous pressure on most state schools to increase their tuition to rates similar if not equal to private colleges so we took a wild guess (a correct one as it turns out) that the value of our units would rapidly rise.[*]We could always choose to supplement the units we purchased with a savings plan to cover books, room and board, etc.[*]The plan offered a monthly payment plan option (pay same amount each month for a contracted # of units) or a lump sum option (where you contribute whenever, however you want).[/list]Lots of ppl took out home equity loans when the plan first opened in 1999 to purchase 4-5 years outright (the unit price was 38 bucks a unit!!!) Today, only 7 years later, the unit price is $60+ and the cost of tuition exceeds $5500. Talk about your ROI!! OK, is this making any sense??Anyway, there are LOTS of good options out there. Most of the financial planner types favor the savings plans (I think that's cause they make more money off of them) but this is what's worked well for us. Good luck!!

Thanks so much Adrienne! :) That helps me out a lot, and wow, what a great way to save for the future!

[list]Watermelon, [/list] [list][/list] [list]We have a 6 month old at the moment so thought I'd share some of the things we found very useful. [/list] [list][*][font=Times New Roman]Balmex cream for diaper rash[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]Mylicon drops ֖ if baby is having trapped gas.. [/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]Infant Tylenol pain reliever/fever reducer[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]For 1st cold ֖ good to have Vicks vapor-plug to help with babys congestion or Vicks BabyRub to rub on their chest.[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]For the 1st week its handy to have a few kimono vests or onesies that button in the front rather than have to pull them over the babies head.[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]Bottle warmer and bottle sterilizer[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]Baby laundry detergent Җ Dreft or Ivory Snow.[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]Pacifier no doubt all babies are different, but our will only take the Playtex Safe n Sure binky..[/font] [/list][ [list][*][font=Times New Roman]Might be handy to get a swaddle-me blanket or you could also use a receiving blanket to swaddle baby. Our baby wouldn֒t sleep un-swaddled for the 1st few weeks.[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]As for a wipe warmer a friend of mine had one and said it was a bad idea as the baby got used to warm wipes and therefore didn֒t like when they were out somewhere and she had to use cold wipes. We used cold wipes from day one and never had a problem.[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]Whats good from around 3 Җ 4 months onward is a Bumbo seat it is recommended by pediatricians and is very good for supporting the babyŒs back while strengthening their neck muscles. We use it for feeding solids to our baby until she is big enough for a highchair. Its also handy to put her in when were cooking or doing stuff around the house and she can be beside us watching. You can buy these onlineor Target do them in their stores now.[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium for the crib Җ our baby loved this when she was born and still does... [/font] [/list][font=Times New Roman] [/font [list][*][font=Times New Roman]A good book to buy and read before your baby arrives is Becoming Babywise, the classic sleep reference guideӔ by Gary Ezzo and Robert Buckman. We were only told about this book a week after our daughter was born. It would have been nice to have it read beforehand. It gives tips on how to train your baby to sleep through the night as most infants when they are born have their daytime and nighttime mixed up.[/font] [*][font=Times New Roman]Oh and dont stock up on too much formula as babies are sometimes allergic to certain kinds. [/font] [/list][font=Times New Roman] [/font]

Thanks so much for mentioning your 529 account! I had no idea they even existed before this post....you learn so much on these boards! My FIL is a financial planner and we've decided to sett up a Coverall (sp?) account for both girls, they are like 529's but can also be used on high schools, trade or vocational schools. He suggested we max that account out and then start on 529 accounts for the girls too.

OH GOOD! I get so excited spreading the gospel of 529's!! We probably should have done like you and gone with a more flexible account since private schools may be in dd's future but I figured we could just cash flow that once the college savings are done. I'm sooooo chomping at the bit to get it all paid for before dd's out of middle school!! Now I just have to makes sure she uses it!!

Watermelon, I would also suggest a Diaper Champ or something along those lines. To this day it is still one of my favorite gifts. We didn't have it the first couple weeks we were home with Grayson because it was a gift at my shower. I was so excited. I know I'm weird, but I hated putting the dirty diapers in a regular trash can. Also, you may want to consider burp rags. I use cloth diapers, but don't get the really cheap ones, they don't work very well. I love the ones we got from Babies R Us - they are the Kushies Baby brand. I don't think I could live without them. And finally, make sure you get the Infant Tylenol and not the Children's. I had no idea there was a difference (I was quite the ignorant mommy - so I agree with everyone who recommended reading up). Someone gave me a care packet at one of my showers which included Children's Tylenol and when it came time for me to use it, I realized I couldn't and had to run out to the pharmacy at the last minute. And I second the comment about the wipes warmer. We also didn't buy one because we didn't want DS to get used to having them warmed up. FYI, we also don't warm his bottles, he gets them at room temperature (he received them that way in the hospital). It makes feedings on the go an absolute breeze. Good luck. I hope your wait is very, very short!!

As for burp cloths, I cannot tell you how much good-quality cloth diapers have helped us out. We probably have 20 or 30 of them, and they are the best. Our son doesn't spit up much (never did), but once he started drooling (still no teeth!) he did it with a vengeance. Get lots of those cloth diapers that are extra-thick in the middle. And our boy adores the Tiny Love mobile with the weirdly striped, vivid colored animals. Looked like something invented by space aliens to scare little kids to me, but he has loved it from the first moment he saw it. Plays tunes by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart.

Thanks for the info, Luke! And LOL at "something invented by space aliens to scare little kids" - a lot of toys look like that to me! :D

I was way too superstitious to buy much of anything before my son came home. What I did do, however, was go to Buy Buy Baby and register for everything I thought I'd need -- furniture, clothes, diapers, bottles, car seat, stroller, tylenol etc . . . I worked out wonderfully, because when I found out he was coming home I went to the store and they printed up the list for me. Even though I was so excited I couldn't think straight I was able to go through the list and get what I needed. Since I'd already "Comparison shopped" I didn't need to make a sudden decision on carseats etc . . . I also didn't forget anything important, which I am sure I would have otherwise. I never used the "registry" as a registry -- that wasn't my intention. I liked getting "suprise" gifts and figured my friends would enjoy picking things out themselves -- mostly clothes. I had 5 days notice before DS came home -- if I'd had only a few hours I could have sent a friend or family member to the store to get my registry list, or called the store and had them ship items from it.