Shopping!

Our shopping trip out to Long Island yesterday was great. It is so fun to actually be able to park (not running back to fill the meter every 5 seconds or terrified that the we misread the sign and will end up with a $100 parking ticket). First stop, Century 21, my favorite. Known as "New York's Best Kept Secret", Century 21 is a department store of dicount designer clothes. Kind of a bigger Loeman's but with Prada, Gucci and Marc Jacobs. There is one down by the financial district, right at ground zero actually, but I have pretty much been avoiding that location since 9/11 (PTSD, I lived 1 block away when it happened). O had high hopes for the Brooklyn location, but they don't carry as many of the high end designers plus it is small and the parking isn't even free. THEN I discovered the Long Island location. As long as you can wade through the extra inventory of Juicy Couture (this is LI after all, they know their market), this place can be a gold mine.

I didn't go crazy, just three baby items, but for me it is all about the hunt - quality over quantity. First, and adorable organic tie dyed onesie, the softest record player onesie (from Kids Ink - marked down from $34 to $4.19) and this precious sweater by Cakewalk (marked down from $74 to $18 - SCORE).


They had a great Le Sportsac diaper bag, but DH though it was too girly and he wouldn't carry it so we will just go with a black Skip Hop. I refuse to have 2 diaper bags, that sounds SO confusing and unnecessary. The baby is never going to be in 2 places at once, why would anyone need or want 2 bags to keep track of?

I also found a great nightgown that will work really well for breast feeding. I can't take a pic because I am wearing it already. I was starting to look like a stuffed sausage in my regular short nighties. This one is black, to the knees, and opens at the top, a little cotton lace brocade. It is just sexy enough to not feel like asexual pajama-mom, but still OK to wear at the hospital or in front of family.

After a few hours at Century (they even have a man lounge for DH), we went on to the conveniently located giant Buy Buy Baby right down the street and used our 20% coupon to buy the car seat. We ended up going with the Chicco KeyFit, on the advice of our super helpful assistant when we registered. Not as expensive as the Peg Perego, but seems less plastic-y and is a little more expensive than the Graco. We also love the green, it matches the Uppa. :)



When we got home we messed with it a little bit and tried installing it, sort of. Wow, very confusing. I see why it is suggested that you get it in there early. However, DH is going to be using the car for the band a bunch of times before we have the baby, so we can't leave it in there. Looks like we are going to have to become pretty good at installing the base, since the whole car seat will have to be in and out a lot. Hmm.. I am starting to think that a separate van for the band to use might not be such a bad idea.

Today we are going to pick up our CSA, then over to the local baby store to get the mattress and look at dresser/changers. I wouldn't be surprised if Visa calls and thinks my card is stolen after all the stuff we have bought this week!