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Caleb turns two in a week and there are many days where I feel like I’m still getting the hang of being a mama of two littles. We’re currently discussing the possibility of having another baby. While we haven’t totally decided yet, I’m already thinking about the things that I need to do before we add a third babe to our family. I’m not talking about preparing our hearts to have more love to give or getting the boys excited about a new baby. That will all happen naturally. What I’m really focusing on are all the things I wish I had done or thought of before Caleb was born. These things would have saved me time, money and space in our house. If you’re thinking about having another baby, this list should help you too:
1. Figure out the car seat puzzle
When we purchased our first car seat, we just picked one. I read a lot of reviews about safety, weight limits and extra features and eventually settled on the Chicco Key Fit. But when Liam grew out of his infant bucket seat, I started to think more about how we’d configure multiple car seats in our cars. Did you know that it’s harder than it sounds? A lot of car seats tend to be too wide to safely and correctly seat three across, which is important if you’re thinking you’ll have three littles in the backseat. You’ll not only need to look at the width of the car seat bases, but also consider anything that makes the car seat wider like arm rests or cup holders, and whether they can safely configure in the back seat with your other car seats.
We recently upgraded Liam to a new seat because Caleb needed to use our convertible car seat (yay for extended rear facing!). After asking around, we decided that a combination seat would be best. If you don’t know what those are (I didn’t), they’re similar to a convertible seat, but they’re forward-facing seats only. We chose Chicco’s MyFit Harness + Booster Car Seat. It’s easily one of the narrowest of all the combination car seats on the market and I can fit the MyFit in our backseat with another car seat right next to it with no issues. We’ve already taken it on several road trips and Liam finds the seat really comfortable.
Read my full review of the Chicco MyFit Car Seat on Guidance Guide!
2. Check expiration dates
If you’re already a parent, then you probably know that car seats have an expiration date. Manufacturers all have different guidelines as far as how long you can use a seat before it needs to be replaced. You can usually find that information on the side or back of the car seat and by reading your car seat’s manual. Consider your family plans and how your car seat’s expiration date fits in.
Our infant bucket seat was fine to be used for both of our kids. Although the car seat hasn’t expired yet, there’s not a lot of time left to use it. There’s a high likelihood that the car seat will expire before or shortly after we have another baby. We’re choosing to clear it out and give it to another family who can use it right now instead of storing it for “some day.” If we have another baby, we’ll purchase another car seat and won’t have to worry about it expiring before our baby has outgrown it.
3. Be smart when car shopping
Chances are that if you’re having multiple kids, you’ll be in the market for a new car at some point. If you’re car shopping, think about what space you’ll need in the future – not just the space you need right now. It’s kind of a hassle to test drive cars when you have kids so the less often you have to upgrade cars, the better. For our car purchase after Liam was born, we made sure we chose a car that could fit three car seats. When we’re ready to upgrade again, we’ll most likely choose one that not only fits our kids but a friend or two as well.
4. Plan sleeping arrangements
I only have one sibling (a brother), so I’ve always found it fascinating hearing about how other people shared rooms with brothers or sisters growing up. How do you do it at your house? Does everyone get their own room? Do all siblings share? Bunk beds? One room for girls and one room for boys? If you have two young kids close in age, do you buy a second crib or transition someone to a toddler bed? We’ve been house hunting for the past year and making sure we have the right amount of space for future kids is definitely part of our decision-making process.
Even if you’re not planning to move, you might want to think about room arrangements and bed purchases. Like Liam is begging for a bunk bed, so we might move the boys together at some point instead of purchasing Caleb his own bed. But if Caleb is still in the crib when we have another baby, we’ll use our bassinet or pack n play to give us some time to think about our next step.
Own a pack n play or mini crib? These are our favorite sheets!
5. Go through all the clothes
I kept nearly every piece of clothing Liam outgrew, intending to reuse most of it for a second baby. Here’s what I discovered:
- My kids were born in opposite seasons. So when winter rolled around, all I had were summer baby clothes and vice versa.
- They’re growing at different rates. We have a ton of 12-18 month clothes because Liam was in that size for over a year. Caleb pretty much skipped it and went right to 2t.
- I packed all the baby clothes in the basement but didn’t get around to pulling them out for Caleb. So I ended up buying new clothes for him because I didn’t know what I already had and what I needed.
- I like buying baby clothes and want to be able to do so in the future.
This time, I’m going through clothes and only keeping a small bin of each size of things I know for sure I want to keep for future babies. Those bins will be stored in the nursery closet instead of hidden away in the basement so I can remember to grab the next size. Anything that’s no longer really wearable is getting tossed. Everything else will either be donated or sold. This will free up our storage space, keep things accessible and still give me the freedom to buy clothes for a new baby.
6. Know your storage space
In a perfect world, you’d have room to store every single thing for as long as you needed. I’d bet, though, that most people don’t have that much storage space available. We have plenty of room in our house for items when they’re in use, like furniture, stroller, high chair, etc. But those things sure do fill up our basement quickly when stored away. So if you’re like me and you don’t have room for all the unused baby items, then it might be better to purge some of the big stuff you won’t mind repurchasing again later. Another option is to loan out some of these items, like your crib or baby swing, and then take it back when you have another baby. That way, you can help out another mama and save on the storage space at the same. time.
7. Discard anything you no longer want
Just because you own it or someone gave it to you doesn’t mean you have to keep something forever. Definitely get rid of anything you didn’t use as much as you thought you might and anything you feel like you could live without. Toss or sell unwanted toys and get rid of anything that’s broken. You’ll especially want to look at all your feeding gear for any broken or worn pieces and anything that’s been chewed on so much that you’d prefer to replace it.
8. Shop second hand
Once you’ve decided to have another baby, it doesn’t happen overnight. Even though Caleb’s entry into our lives was faster than a full-term pregnancy would take, we still had a few months to think about what we would need for a second baby. New and shiny things are always fun, but not always the nicest to your wallet. There are so many deals you can get shopping through Facebook Marketplace, buy-sell-trade pages and neighborhood yard sales. I had my heart set on a double jogging stroller, but knew that it would be hard to talk my husband into the bigger price tag. I ended up finding this stroller from BOB at half price from a local moms’ group and it was barely even used.
We’re using this car seat adaptor with this jogging stroller.
9. Think about what you want to update
One thing I didn’t count on was how much the baby industry would change in 3.5 years. Or in the last 6 years if you’re counting from my baby shower until now. There are always so many new items coming on the market, new brands to discover and updated features to older models. It doesn’t hurt to keep your eye on new baby products coming out even before you need them.
For instance, I sold an older baby carrier to get Tula’s Free-to-Grow carrier when it came out (you can wear this carrier with newborns without the need for a newborn insert). We’ve also switched to products like Finn and Emma’s play yard (this link will give you 15% off!), this lounging pillow from Pello, and found a diaper bag that would accommodate multiple kids. All of these items weren’t around (or I had never heard of them) when Liam was a baby.
Read my full review of the Tula Free-to-Grow carrier here.
10. Enjoy the stage that you’re in
It’s easy for me to get lost dreaming about our future plans for our family. What I realized when Caleb was born that there were a lot of things I wish I had done with Liam before he lost his only child status. Like more trips to zoos and museums. More mommy/Liam dates and creating new memories together. Our lives obviously haven’t stopped since having another baby, but there’s certainly a different dynamic to it all. I’m excited about the possibility of adding another little one to our family, but I want to make the most of our “now” too. I also learned that I gave a lot of my headspace to all my worries about trying to get pregnant and then going through the adoption process and that’s not something I want to do this next time around. Worry less, enjoy more.
So there you have it. 10 thing you should do to get your life ready for another baby. What kinds of things would you add to the list?
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