The big purchases

If you're anything like me then worrying about the cost of everything when you find out you are expecting a baby is a big deal! I'm not going to lie, I panicked...a lot! For something so small it turns out Squishy needs a whole lot of stuff. Don't get me wrong a lot of it is "like to have" rather than "must have" but I think it's natural to want the best for your baby before they even arrive and to never want them to have to go without.

I thought I'd put a little post together showing the main expensive things that we have had to fork out for during my pregnancy - the big purchases as such!

We've been very very lucky and have had family members offer to purchase some of these for us which we will be eternally greatful for. I also love to bargain hunt and have found a lot of things cheaper second hand on eBay or Facebook selling sites which has helped us a lot.

So here goes...

1. Pram/Pushchair/Travel System

Obviously an essential and probably the most expensive thing expectant parents have to buy. It's hard because there is such a variety out there and you really need to do your research to decide which sort of pram would suit your family's needs best. Poor G was so fed up of visiting Mothercare and playing with prams over and over again, long before we came to a final decision.

We always knew we wanted to go for a complete travel system rather than just a pram. This meant we would get a carrycot for use the first couple of months, a pram type seat which can be both parent and world facing and a car seat - all which can be easily interchanged.

We ended up going for the Babystyle Oyster 2 travel system which is kind of medium/low in the price range of travel systems.

My parent very kindly offered to buy our pram for us which was an amazing relief. Each part needed purchasing separately which is a bit of a pain but good in the sense that you could spread out the cost if you wanted to.

Main Oyster 2 pram chassis in black - £299

Coral colour pack (hood, seat pad & head hugger) - £70

Slate grey foot muff - £40

Oyster carrycot - RRP £115, currently £34 in the sale - I managed to pick this up second hand for £10 

Maxi Cosi Pebble car seat - RRP £165 - I managed to pick this up second hand for £25

All Mothercare

2. Cot/Cotbed

This wasn't really an essential purchase before Squishy arrives because we expect she'll be sleeping in with us for the first 6 months or so, rather than in her own room, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

We picked this lovely Obaby Winnie the Pooh cotbed in white with a pine trim. I love the Winnie the Pooh theme and have definitely been trying to incorporate some Disney into the nursery. The mattress has three different height settings and the sides can be removed to turn it into a cotbed that will be suitable up until the age of 5. 

I'm not saying we definitely won't change Squishy's bed before she is 5 cos that seems a long way off but it's nice to know that we've got the option and don't have the expenses of toddler beds/single beds later down the line. It also came with a free mattress which I thought made it extra great value.

Again we were lucky enough to have this bought for us by my nan and grandad.

Winnie the Pooh Deluxe Cot Bed - White with Pine Trim - £174.99 Argos

3. Steriliser starter set

I think subconsciously I always knew I didn't want to breastfeed so had already looked into and sussed out what we would need to bottle feed.

We ended up opting for the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Essentials Starter Kit - £119.99 Asda - but I did wait to pick this up in the Baby & Toddler event as I knew they went down to half price £55.

This is a fab kit and contains absolutely everything we need to get started bottle feeding:

- electric steam steriliser

- electric bottle warmer

- 4x 260ml bottles

- 4x 150ml bottles

- 2x medium flow teats

- 6x powder dispensers

- 2x insulated bottle bags

- bottle/teat brush

- teat tongs

- soother 0-3 months 

4. Baby swing

Again I totally understand this isn't a must have but I always liked the idea of having a swing for Squishy rather than a bouncy chair - I'm not sure why!

I had my eye on this super reasonable Baby by Chad Valley deluxe swing - £43.99 Argos. I love the little elephants and that it's unisex. Amazingly I came across somebody local to us who was selling the exact same one second hand for £15 in great condition so I was over the moon with that.

5. Playmat/BabyGym

I absolutely fell in love with this ocean themed playmat in Mothercare - £40. We kept putting off buying it thinking nearer the time etc.. and then disaster struck - the discontinued it!! Luckily I managed to hunt down a fabulous condition one on eBay and I think we ended up paying £16 including postage which I was over the moon with.

I think playmats were definitely something I underestimated the price of before we were expecting a baby!

6. Crib/Moses Basket

Now I never ever even considered getting a crib for Squishy. I thought they were unnecessary and seriously overpriced and a Moses basket was just always what we were going to purchase.

The one I had my eye on was so cute, all pink (obviously), elephant themed and £34.99 from Asda which I didn't think was too bad. Then again the same thing happened, we left it too long to purchase and they stopped selling it and I couldn't find another one that I loved as much.

I did however see a lady on our local selling site selling this lovely crib RRP £99.99 for £20 so I couldn't turn it down.

Looking at it practically I think it would have been worth spending a little more to get a crib because it's so much bigger than a Moses basket and will hopefully sleep Squishy happily for a lot longer.

7. Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep machine

Again this is by no means an essential item to have and I definitely wouldn't have purchased it full price - £119.97 Asda (again these do go down pretty much half price in the Baby event) - but it has come so so highly recommended to us by friends as an absolutely essential life changer of a purchase that we thought we'd give it a go.

Again I managed to get this on one of our selling sites for £35 which I thought was much more reasonable.

For anybody that doesn't know the Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep machine basically makes up perfect room temperature bottles for you in less than two minutes so there is no waiting around for boiling water to cool while your baby screams their head off. Obviously yet to use so we'll have to let you know how we get on.

8. Highchair

We haven't actually bought a highchair yet because we obviously won't be using one for a good 4 months or so yet but my Aunt and Uncle have said they would like to buy it for us when the time comes so I have started looking at what type we would like.

I'm currently torn between these two

Grey Chevron My Babiie highchair - £79.99 exclusively at Mothercare, Billie Faiers (from TOWIE)

Red Kite highchair £32.99 Mothercare

I know we'd like something unisex so we could potentially save it for any further babies (even though this is getting very ahead of ourselves!). I think it will probably be the My Babiie one to be honest, I adore the chevron pattern, it's so so cute and the seat does appear to give baby more support and cushioning that the Red Kite one but we'll see.

9. Baby monitor

Again this isn't something we have purchased yet because Squishy will pretty much be sleeping right next to us at all times when she is really small so there won't be any need for a monitor but we have decided which one we would like.

I know lots of people really recommend video monitors and monitors that come with sensor mats to detect any breathing problems but I've said all along this is definitely something I don't want. I am such a worrier anyway I really think either of those functions on a monitor would tip me over the edge and have me a quivering wreck checking her breathing and movements every 2 seconds. I've heard from a  lot of people that the sensor mats are very unreliable and can go off for no reason, causing absolute heart attacks I'm sure! Something we've decided we could do without. Simple sound monitors did the job fine when I was small so that's what we have decided to go with. This BT Pacifier Baby Monitor RRP £59.99 currently in the sale for £39.99 (which I did not know about so more than likely we will be picking it up sooner rather than later) is pretty top of the range for a simple sound monitor and has lots of functions that we like the look of. Two-way talk, a long range, temperature display, lullabies and a light show. You can even plug in your own MP3 player if you think baby might appreciate some tunes of an evening!

So I thought it'd be interesting to look at our total spend on the "big things" if we'd bought everything at full price and all at once....a whopping

£1,427.91 -  which definitely looks rather scary!

Then when you take into account the lovely things we have been gifted and the buying things second hand the amount we have actually spent on exactly the same products is.....

£235.99 - a crazy saving of over ONE THOUSAND POUNDS!!

I know we have been so so lucky to have some family members buy some of the more expensive necessities for us and we really do appreciate it so much but I honestly think if we'd spread out all these purchases over the 8 months since we found out we were expecting Squishy is really would have been manageable. This has definitely shown me that even though G may laugh at my money saving/scrimping ways it is without a doubt definitely worth shopping around for discounts on things or buying bits second hand - I'm quite proud of my savings now it's all laid out in front of me like this.

Have you bought any of these items for your little ones? I'd love to hear what you think of them! Have I left any expensive purchases off the list?

XOXO

Squishy Haul #2

I've had this post saved in my drafts for absolutely ages and for some reason never seem to have got round to posting it!

Since we found out we are expecting a little girl naturally we (and everybody else for that matter) seem to have gone crazy overboard on the pink shopping! Don't get me wrong absolutely nothing pleases me more than picking out gorgeous little frilly pink bits - I am such a girly girl - but you know what, I think a couple of my favourite baby bits are actually some of the first unisex/neutral stuff we bought before we knew the sex.

These top three pictures are all from Baby Gap and I adore them all! To be honest Baby Gap isn't somewhere I imagined myself to be shopping for a baby. I always had the impression, wrongly I'd like to add, that it was pretty pricey and not great quality but I honestly couldn't be more surprised.

This all in one sleepsuit complete with feet is probably my all time favourite outfit we have bought for Squishy so far. It is so so soft and really thick so feels like it will be great quality. Stupidly I bought it in 0-3 months so although hopefully it will last a good while, unfortunately we probably won't be able to use it as a coming home outfit - unless bubba is a whopper of course! (Not that I'm wishing for that!)

It was £16 but I happened to go shopping on a 20% off sale day so it only cost me £12.80 which I think was really reasonable.

These next two baby vests are also Baby Gap. The dreamer one is newborn size, has slightly shorter sleeves and is thinner - my thinking being that we might have some nice weather around Squishy's due date. The second one is size 0-3 months, has slightly longer sleeves and is a slightly thicker warmer material. How cute is the text? "I go where mum goes" I just couldn't resist.

Both the vests were £8 each but again in the sale so I paid £6.40 which I was really pleased with.

This gorgeous little sleepsuit was a gift from one of G's sisters and we absolutely love it. I love anything sentimental so a babygro saying "Born in 2015" was always going to be a winner in my eyes and is something we will be putting in Squishy's special keepsake box once she's done with it for sure.

I'm not sure on the price but it was from Next so I assume around £8-12, as they are usually pretty reasonable.

Coming soon.....Pink Haul # 1

XOXO

South East Baby & Toddler Show - Part 2

So to be perfectly honest this is a post I've ummm'd and aaah'd about writing and have been putting off because I wasn't that impressed with the South East Baby & Toddler Show but when I started blogging I wanted to record a completely true and honest account of pregnancy and all my thoughts so I thought what the hell...

You may remember back in March I blogged my excitement when I found out about the show. We decided to give THE baby show at the excel centre in London a miss. I thought the sheer size of it would be a bit overwhelming and we didn't know whether Squishy was blue or pink back then so we thought we'd be restricted on what we could buy.

So a couple of Sunday's ago we set off with our friends Lucy, Simon and their gorgeous three month old baby girl Betsy to Sandown Park in Esher, Surrey. The venue was really good for an event of this style. Sandown Park is a large horseracing course but the baby show was held in the event centre. It is easy to find, well sign posted from the motorway and has great parking facilities.

We arrived just after 11am and even though the show had only opened at 10 it was already packed! The initial queue to get in wasn't very big and we were quickly ushered into a longer queue for our freebies. I was given a mum-to-be Emma's diary goodie bag, some packets of baby porridge, a MAM feeding bottle and some different Nutrimum pregnancy cereal bars (which you can read my review on here). I know Lucy received slightly different items already being a mummy but they were just variations of the same products really. I wasn't overly impressed with any of this, especially the mum-to-be pack which every pregnant lady can pick up for free anyway so I already had sitting at home but then again a freebie is a freebie isn't it so I guess I shouldn't complain?

The crowds gathered around the first couple of stalls was ridiculous! I mean we literally struggled to walk through, never mind poor Luce with the pram. I was panicking that the whole show was going to be like this but thankfully it wasn't and the crowds did thin out slightly as we moved around the stalls.

The popular brands, Mamas and Papas, iCandy, Bugaboo, Tommee Tippee, Maxi Cosi & Oyster were absolutely mobbed which was annoying. Even though we weren't shopping for anything in particular it would have been nice to be able to get a closer look at what was on offer. In particular I wanted to ask some questions about our Oyster 2 travel system and ask for some demonstrations but unfortunately we didn't get the chance.

Even though the venue was a pretty good size I wasn't blown away by the stalls on offer. There were only a handful of big big names and a lot of the stalls were offering exactly the same products as one another so it was a case of once you'd seen one you'd seen them all unfortunately. 

We didn't stop for anything to eat or drink because to be honest we weren't actually at the show for that long. From what I could see refreshments were quite overpriced but that's to be expected I guess. Bizarrely we discovered that all toilets and most importantly baby changing facilities were upstairs with difficult to navigate access. For an event where there were hundreds of new mummies all obviously complete with large tracks systems this wasn't the best thought out idea.

I reckon it took us around half an hour to comfortably get round all the stalls and we were probably there for around 90mins or so taking our time, dawdling round and going back and forth to a couple of stalls that took our fancy. I don't know if I just had unrealistic expectations and expected a larger event like the show in London but I was planning a full day at the show, or at least a good few hours.

As I said we weren't shopping for anything in particular but we did pick up a couple of cute bits & hunted down some bargains.

First up was a lovely little stall called Bubba Bibs which was actually causing all the commotion and crowding right at the entrance to the show. The stall was too busy when we first got there but we managed to go back at a quieter time.

As you can probably guess they specialise in bibs, dribble bibs in particular and had some great offers on. We picked up 6 bibs for £10 which I think is amazing value, you'd struggle to even find bibs that cheap somewhere like Asda or Primark!

The photo 100% doesn't do these bibs justice. They are SO soft, really thick and are an amazing fleecy material on the back which I imagine would make them extra absorbent for all the dribble and milk that will be inevitably heading their way. They had a huge selection of cute colours, styles, patterns and slogans and I could easily have bought more. 

We also found this adorable little baby Converse set. It contains a short sleeve vest, hat and little booties and was £15. I've come across a lot of the Converse sets with just a hat and socks but never one like this that include a babygro as well.

The only thing I'm not sure about with this set is the sizing. All items are 0-6 months which is unusual right? I mean surely there's a big difference in th size of a newborn and a 6 month old baby? Still we shall see and once Squishy is here I'll be able to report back and let you know at what age this fitted her best.

The last few items we picked up were from the MAM stall. Even though MAM are a huge household brand we actually hadn't bought anything for Squishy from the company until this point. They had a great 3 for £10 offer on lots of different items.

We picked up some dummies suitable for 0+ months, dummy clips and a teether for a little later on but they had lots of other items to chose from, in particular lots of weaning items and bottles.

Up until this point we hadn't bought any dummies for Squishy and G is very anti! Don't get me wrong I'm obviously not going to be shoving them down her throat or anything and it would be great to not have to use them but I'm definitely not ruling it out and I expect at 3am when nothing will settle our little princess G may well change his mind as well so at least now we've got the option.

This hasn't put off the idea of baby shows in general and I think next year we probably will go to the big baby show in London with Squish in tow but I wouldn't bother with the South East version again.

Have you been to any baby shows? I'd love to hear your opinion, especially on this event or The Baby Show at the Excel centre?

XOXO

Squishy Haul #1

Yes yes I know I have been promising cute baby hauls for weeks now and I really have no excuse for taking so long to post them up. As I think I already mentioned after both our 12 and 20 weeks scans me and G hit the shops in a BIG way. More recently we've been buying pink girly bits obviously but back in February just after we got the all-OK from our 12 week scan we finally hit the shops - something the shopaholic in me had been dying to do ever since we found out we were pregnant!

 

So here are some of the bits we picked up:

First stop, probably not surprisingly as we are definitely restricted by our budget, was Primark. To be honest I've heard mixed reports about their baby clothing, some of my friends with little ones love it and some say you get what you pay for and that the quality is poor. So the jury is definitely still out and we will see how Squishy gets on with what we've bought so far. I'm trying to remember the prices on these best I can so they might be slightly off.

 

4-piece newborn set £8 - Primark

This cute set consisted of a short sleeve bodysuit, a longsleeve sleepsuit, a hat and bib. All in this adorable teddy print. To be fair I think we now own the entire collection of this cute little bear so he is definitely here to stay!

pack of 7 short sleeve bodysuits £7 - Primark

Hooded towel £5 - Primark

Giraffe all-in-one pram suit in 3-6 months £6 in the sale - Primark

 Ummmm.....how cute? Obviously just because every little girl needs a giraffe outfit in their wardrobe right? We got this in a bigger size so hopefully it'll be perfect for Squishy throughout the winter months.

 

3-pack muslins £5, 2 hats & 2 scratchmitts pack £3, 5-pack socks £2.50 & 7-pack bibs £3 - Primark

Obviously a baby shopping spree would not be complete without a trip to The Disney Store right? Don't get me wrong I know their clothing is so over priced but it's all so gorgeous we couldn't resist a few special bits. Funnily enough I'm not keen on the blue or pink items this season so we'll probably be stocking up on some more Dumbo items.

Dumbo sleepsuit £18 - The Disney Store

This is definitely one of my favourite sleepsuits we have for Squishy so far...maybe even a contender for her coming home from the hospital outfit!

Dumbo soft toy £16 - The Disney Store

I am obsessed with this Dumbo toy. It is up there with one of the softest toys I have every felt and elephants are my favourite animal so it was always going to be a winner.

 

H&M is another one of those stores that I definitely will be buying a lot of Squishy's clothes from. Where I live we actually only have a kids H&M - no adult one - so we tend to have a really good selection of their stock. I just don't think you can beat them on price, they always have great 3 for 2 offers on basic baby bits and I always love their bits.

 

2-pack long sleeve bodysuits £7.99 - H&M

3-piece set £9.99 - H&M

I love this little set. We haven't got a lot of colour for Squishy at this stage. Most of the neutral items we tend to pick up are cream, white or grey so I love this green. The set comes with little stripy leggings (so cute!), a short sleeve bodysuit & hat. All in matching dinosaur print of course! Raaaw!

 

2-pack leggings £2.50 in the sale - H&M

2-pack leggings £5 - H&M

I think baby leggings are super cute and are something I would love Squishy to wear a lot. I think as she is due in the summer it's probably going to be too warm for actual little person clothes so I'm thinking a bodysuit and leggings will be perfect for lazy days at home.

2-pack sleepsuits £9.99 - H&M

These sleepsuits are ador-a-ble! Who doesn't love Winnie the Pooh? Especially baby Winnie the Pooh!

 

2-pack short sleeve bodysuits £12 - Man Utd Megastore

As I mentioned on one of my previous posts we were pretty good and didn't buy any little bits for Squishy until after our 12 week scan...that is apart from these little Manchester United bodysuits. These were literally the first item we bought Squishy just a few days after we found out we were pregnant. We were up in Manchester for the weekend for G's birthday and being the huge football fans that we are it would have been silly not to stop by the megastore at Old Trafford as obviously it's not somewhere we can just pop to every day living down in Kent. I know lots of people won't understand buying football baby clothes for a little girl but it wouldn't have mattered to us what sex Squishy turned out to be. I love football and I'm a girl so who says our little princess won't love it too? Obviously we're never going to force football onto our little girl but until she's old enough to make up her own mind I think these are really cute. And she will of course need an England kit in time for Euro 2016!!

3-pack sleeveless bodysuits £2.50 - George at Asda, 3-pack short sleeve bodysuits £3, 3-pack long sleeve bodysuits £3 - both Primark

Now for the boring, but oh so essential bits. We've picked up lots of plain white bodysuits in all different sizes and sleeve lengths. As Squishy is due in August (hopefully) we've got mostly sleeveless or short sleeve bodysuits in newborn and 0-3 months and then have stocked up on some long sleeve suits in 0-3 and 3-6 months for when the temperature will be dropping a little bit and Squishy will probably appreciate more layers.

Teddy blanket £5, Cellular blanket £4 - both Primark, Humphrey's Corner pram blanket £12 - Mothercare

 

These are Squishy's neutral colour blankets all of which I love! Being a big elephant/Disney/Winnie the Pooh fan in general the gorgeous Humphrey's corner heffelump blanket was an absolute must buy as soon as I laid my eyes on it. It is incredibly soft. It's cotton on one side and fleece on the other, so so thick and of amazing quality.

The other two blankets are just cheap bits from primark. The teddy one was too cute not to buy - I think it would make the perfect gift if you are looking to buy something for a friend expecting a baby. It is presented so nicely!

The cellular blankets from primark are actually cheaper and softer than anywhere else I have come across - even  George at Asda!

So that's it for today! Those are pretty much all the bits we picked up in our first shopping trip back in February. We have picked up a few more neutral bits since then but I didn't want to bore you with too much at once so I'll save them for another haul another day.

XOXO