Did you keep your receipts?

I say, once you’ve made it out of your first trimester, it is entirely acceptable to begin your baby registry. Wait. You’re at 13 weeks and haven’t started one? It’s okay; you don’t have to admit you’ve been secretly searching all the baby websites for the past nine weeks.

Trying to register for a baby without the baby there is like trying to cut your own hair in the dark: You have an idea of what you want, and you have good intentions, but it doesn’t mean things will turn out the way they should.

You register for bottles only to find out after you’ve opened the package and sterilized the bottle that your baby really does believe that “breast is best.” Who needs a wipe warmer? Do you? What the heck is a onesie? How the heck are you going to drag around a stroller the size of a car?

My best advice is to put down those magazines toting the biggest, bestest and “most educational” baby items and ask other parents. Don’t just ask one either. One person’s Exasaucer is another’s Torture Device.

If there’s anything I’ve learned after having two, it is to keep the receipts. I mean, come on, do you really need five baby bathtubs?