List of Wishes

I've talked in generalities about the types of things I want and don't want to buy for our baby but when I mentioned cloth diapers last week, I realized I never have gotten into specifics. Mostly because I have been very indecisive. There are so many types of diapers and baby wraps and fun stuff that while I knew I didn't want a whole lot of stuff, I couldn't pick what I did want! I'd decide and then the next week change my mind. But I've pretty much settled on everything and I can't change it too much since I'm about to make the registry public.

Which brings us to the baby registry. I think it's a fairly new concept, but one that has become pretty popular. I'm not sure how Miss Manners feels about them but overall, I think I like the idea.

They do have their negatives. For one, it's a bit awkward to make one because it seems like you're saying "Hey, you, buy me stuff. And not just any stuff, buy this exact stuff that I've already picked out!." Nobody owes us a present and while as a new mom, I've done a lot of research on what I think I want and don't want, if a experienced mom wants to enlighten me with a gift that I wouldn't have thought of, I'm all for that too. Some of my favorite wedding gifts, like my Willow Tree Nativity set, were non-registry items that I wouldn't ever have thought to list.

But they can be nice too. When someone else has a baby or gets married, I like to use their registry. It makes it easy on me. And a lot of the things we want to use are odd and it would be hard for someone not familiar with them to try and figure them out (diapers!). So after wavering, we decided to make one. You can check it out on the sidebar. This way our parents can easily send people to it without having to remember anything.

We decided to go with the website Wishlist.com. I had never heard of it before but it's pretty neat. You can add all sorts of items from different websites and stores unlike the most popular registries like Babies R Us and Target, but it should still be easy for our out-of-state family to track them down, which wouldn't be the case if we went with a smaller boutique. Another plus is that you don't have to rely on the store to scan something and update the website. The gift giver just puts it on reserve and after they buy it, changes the reserved status to bought status. This means if they find the same item on another site or want to go buy it at store and mail it themselves, they can. Another cool perk of this registry is that you can rank items, meaning you can put that cute but not totally necessary wooden mouse toy or the Rush Baby on Board sign (yes, that was a Craig pick :-) on the registry without feeling bad because you ranked it below the more necessary items like diaper covers and receiving blankets.

There is a downside though, because you aren't ordering it directly from the registry's site, there is no way for it to automatically put in our mailing address. In theory everyone who will be getting you a gift should know where you live but I was still a tad annoyed at first since we just moved and I felt like it would annoy people to have to ask our address. But the birth announcement will have our new address and I guess you can't have everything.

So to summarize: Wishlist.com is neat. Check out Nigel's Wishlist here. And stay tuned for an update on baby things we think are cool.