Now that I have recovered from last week’s Death Cold, I am up and moving again – and itching to DO something. There’s nothing like a few days of bed rest to make me stir-crazy, and now, I can’t stop looking for Tasks to Do. In that interest, I started surfing Craigslist for secondhand baby gear. It isn’t that we can’t afford new stuff, it’s that we don’t NEED all new stuff. I don’t like adding to the demand for new, third-world manufactured baby stuff – especially when the kids only use it for a few months before outgrowing it. It’s a waste of resources: the energy that goes into making these things, the fuel that is used to ship them, everything. I could just go out and search for and buy all green stuff, but that’s REALLY expensive, so I’ve started just looking for used versions of the things I want.
Hence, today’s purchases: the Graco travel crib/bassinette/playpen:
and the Fisher Price Rainforest bouncer:
We brought them home, and I promptly disinfected everything. I dropped the bouncer cover in the wash with some vinegar and soap and hot water, and wiped down the hard surface parts with disinfectant bathroom spray. And then Paul and I wiped down the bassinette with the same spray, and then dunked it in a bathtub full of hot water with a cup of bleach in it. Good as new. I’ll probably give them another going over just before the baby gets here and needs them, with a non-toxic disinfectant like apple cider vinegar and water, but for now, good as new.
Next, I’m going to finish cleaning the bathroom, and then we’re going to go through the Wall of Shelves in the baby’s room, which is currently full of paperback books and miscellaneous crap. I already spent the better part of the weekend going through that room, giving away my old desk on Craigslist, cleaning out all the wedding presents that we’d been stacking instead of organizing in the kitchen – having a little one takes a RIDICULOUS amount of house rearranging.
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