Gifts that keep on giving ...

We've registered a few different places for baby gifts (see top of page). Thank you so much to those of you who've already purchased items from one of our registries and to everyone else who has thought of us and given a gift ... especially those of advice, support and encouragement.

It seems some people have had a little confusion using the online baby registries and when we have some time we'll post some basic instructions. For right now, here are a few things that we still hope to get before the baby comes (hopefully sooner rather than later).

Priority Items ...

Those of you still wanting to get us something for the baby, there are a few things that we would like more than others (but, of course, are happy simply knowing that you are thinking of us)!

In particular, cloth diapers! You can see some in particular that we've selected and think would work the best (from multiple recommendations) at one of the following three sites: Baby Earth, Eco Baby's Hut, or Pure and Simple Baby. We figure that we'll need 15-20 cloth diapers total, and running from $15-20 each the cost can add up quickly. However, these styles and brands that we picked out and registered for are mostly of the AIO (All-In-One) One-Size variety; meaning, they are adjustable and should last from birth to the point where diapers are no longer necessary (hopefully sooner rather than later). In the long run, the cost of buying your basic disposable diapers would considerably exceed the upfront cost of these fancy new reusable cloth diapers. Let alone costs saved to the environment. Conventional disposable diapers are the third largest contributors to landfills in the world yet only five percent of the population uses them. A single disposable diaper can take up to 500 years to biodegrade in the landfill. There are also biodegradable gDiapers made now (supposedly flushable, at least partially). These might be better for travel. If someone wanted to get us a starter kit we'd love to give them a try.

We've registered for a lot of other smaller items that we think we will need or would like to have. Some of the more necessary items, besides diapers, are the humidifier (this is the one we registered for, though any good humidifier would suffice) and bottles (we registered for both 4 oz and 9 oz WeeGo glass bottles).

Finally, please do not hesitate to give us hand-me-downs. In fact, for many items that are no longer of use to you and are fine to reuse (particularly clothes, books and toys), we would prefer this. It can be a pain to ship, mail or transport certain items but if it is possible we would much rather have it than it be thrown away. A gift is a gift, regardless of price and making it new does not make it any better. The more creative, the better ...