OK, so the truth about Buying For Baby is that you think you need bazillions of things, and what you really need is…about one-eighteenth of that. When you walk into Buy Buy Baby or Babies 'R' Us for the first time, all pregnant and confused-looking (or, in my case, vaguely panicky), a store attendant will hand you a long (long) list of all the crap the store wants you to think that you need. And that can be helpful to some extent, but it's also way overwhelming, and way way way way expensive.

You don't need all that. (Try handing over the list to a friend who's recently been through the newborn phase, and let her go to town with the crossing-off.)

Shopping for our second child has been a completely different experience. First of all, other than the fact that I obviously went a little nuts with the purchasing of teeny-tiny dresses when we found out that we'd be having a daughter…we actually hadn't bought anything at all up until last weekend. Which makes sense: we already have about 90% of the things we'll need (crib, dresser, baby carrier, infant car seat, et cetera). We still want to pick up a good double stroller and a Snap 'n' Go (we not-so-smartly got rid of ours when our son outgrew his infant car seat)…but other than that: we're pretty good to go, I think.