I bought the Valco!

After talking with Thak, we decided we absolutely could not pass up the awesome deal on the Valco Tri-Mode EX Twin stroller listed on Craigslist, so I emailed the seller. She told me it had only been used once, that after they moved to Ft. Bliss they just didn't need it anymore (I knew it. Officer's wife. They always have the best stuff.) so this thing is pretty much brand new, and for that price. Wow. Valco at Graco prices. Freaking amazing. I cannot believe we lucked into an $800 stroller for more than 50% off retail.

It seems early to be buying stuff like this, but we have so few things to buy for this baby in the first place. The issue is that most of it is big ticket stuff. A double stroller was one thing, then also a new crib since the one we used with Erin and Orren broke (that's one reason Orren went into a big bed at 13 months), and of course one more Radian carseat (we can use our spare Britax in the truck, but for the car, we need to use another Radian in order for 3-across to fit best.)

We got the stroller out of the way already, and the crib, we plan to buy in January or February when Babies r Us has their twice-a-year trade-in event. Basically, we can trade in our old broken crib for a voucher for 25% off a new one. When we're talking about something that costs a few hundred bucks, 25% off is significant savings, so we're going to wait for the trade-in event and get our crib then.

The carseat, we'll probably wait until spring 2011 to buy because carseats expire, and buying them long before you need them, only serves to waste that portion of their usable life. The Radian has 8 years before expiration (the longest of any convertible carseat on the US market) but I still don't want to waste it by buying too early.

Other than that, we're pretty much good. I want to get a few more diaper covers. I've always gone really minimalist on covers (minimum of 6 in each size is recommended. I have 4 in each size, but no Mediums because Orren skipped that size.) but really, I would like to have a few more than what I do have, and I definitely want some Mediums. What I decided was to get Thirsties Duo Wraps. We like Thirsties sized covers, and the Duo wraps size up with the baby, just like our beloved Bum Genius pocket diapers do, so we'll get a lot for our money that way. Plus, the Duos come in snap closure, which is great for longevity. I also love the prints they have. I think I'm going to wait and find out if this baby is a boy or a girl, and then buy gender-specific stuff rather than getting all pretty much gender-neutral the way I did with Orren. I want to get two Duos in each size (so four total). That's not bad. I also need a few new Snappis because the ones we have are stretched out after almost two years of daily use. Snappis are cheap, though. I can get all I will ever need for under $10. In a perfect world, we'd have some organic bamboo velour wipes, too, but that's definitely not a necessity, especially when I have a ton of flannel I can make wipes out of, just sitting here.

A friend asked me for my registry information yesterday, and that made me think. I may just register with an online cloth diapering retailer since really the only small ticket items we need are diapering related (and there is no way in hell I'm going to ask my friends for my big ticket items. I hate when people do that.) I don't really need anything else.

It's good to have one of the major purchases out of the way, though. I pick up the Valco on Monday. I'm really happy about it. I wasn't sure about buying an all black stroller at first, but really, for a deal like that, color is unimportant. I do think it's funny, though, because it seems like with each baby, I like gear from a certain part of the world! With Orren, it was all European, mostly Italian, Dutch, and Danish. This time, I fell in love with a stroller from New Zealand (the Phil & Teds) and in the end, bought an Australian one instead (the Valco). They make good stuff Down Under, apparently!