[blparent] Baby Organization Tips?

[Crystal Plemmons]

Hi Allison,

First, congratulations on the new baby! 

Ok, on baby clothes. When I was pregnant with my son, he is 5 now, I had a sighted friend help me sort through all the sizes, and I put each size into it's own box. Then, when he started growing out of each size, which felt like every 4 days or so, I would just clear out everything at once and move to the next size. I know a lot of people do this gradually, but I found it too irritating to weed things out as they got too small rather  than preempting the size change. So, you could just label each box with each size, and it will be ready for you when the baby is. By the way, the size changes slow down at age 2, and you will only have to deal with the change out with each season because sizes last for a whole year after that.

As far as the matching goes, I don't blame you for wanting your baby to match. I didn't worry about it with mine so much, but I had a boy, and when it mattered, I could put Kacki's or jeans on him and I knew everything else matched no matter what. So, you can do that in a pinch. But, for every day, the only way that I can think that you can keep the clothes matched without working yourself to the bone making labels is to pin each outfit together. Pin it together before it goes into the wash, and keep it pinned until you put it on the baby, then pin it back together as soon as you take it off of the baby. I'm not sure if the pins would stress the clothes in the wash, but you could pin them in a couple of different places. I cannot imagine labeling baby clothes, and yes, you are right that you will have no time for things like that after the baby is born. So, the simplest system is going to be your best bet.

On the diapers, I have no better ideas than using braille labels of some sort, unless you use Tap Tapsy or another service like that. 

I hope this helps, and good luck with the new baby!

Crystal 


-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Allison via BlParent
Sent: Sunday, December 6, 2015 12:19 AM
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List' <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Allison <allison82 at cox.net>
Subject: [blparent] Baby Organization Tips?

Hi Everybody,

Our baby girl will be arriving in approximately five weeks and I'm trying to get somewhat organized beforehand. We've finally reached the point that we've accumulated some baby supplies and we're now trying to sort through the clutter.

Does anyone have suggestions for keeping track of diapers and baby clothes? We had a diaper raffle at our shower, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but now we have tons of packs of diapers of varying sizes and shapes scattered throughout the house. Before I start sorting and Braille labeling everything, does anyone have a diaper size organization system that you recommend? In short, does anyone have an idea that sucks less than dymo tape and index cards? <smile>.

As for baby clothes... we have what feels like several dozen sizes of those too. A different size for every 3 months or so it seems. And the colors... oh the colors! Everything baby girl seems very matchy matchy. Which I actually love in theory cuz it's adorable, but in practice... will I actually be able to keep track of which pattern or specific color shade of pink or purple or aqua goes with which? Or which cute little owl or elephant or giraffe design goes with which other animal design? I have a system of labeling my own clothes which works just fine, but it appears that baby girls have many more possible shade, pattern,  and color combinations than I do. I use 3 or 4 different safety pin styles that I use on four main color categories for all of my clothes. Since my categories are based on more neutral colors like black and beige that one doesn't usually see in kid clothes, I'm thinking my own system won't quite work for baby. And Darrell, my fiancé who is also blind, God love him, doesn't label any of his clothes ever. I have no idea how he shows up to work matching at all. Given that, I think we may need a new labeling or organization system for baby clothes, ideally one that we can both follow since we will both be dressing baby. 

BTW, a terrific blind parent friend of mine whom I love and respect tremendously just suggested that I not worry about trying to match baby clothes since most everything is pink or purple and more or less goes together, but I admit that didn't feel quite right to me. Is she correct that I should let this go? Will I eventually be too sleep deprived to care about subtle shade and pattern matches? Like, does the fact that I'm concerned about this issue at all only demonstrate how much time I have on my hands now as compared to when baby actually arrives live on the scene?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
Allison, Darrell, and Baby Girl Pending

P.S. What's up with all the owl designs on baby clothes? Does anyone else but me find them wise but totally not cute?


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