The necessity of crap...

The older I get and the more kids I have, the more I realize the the uselessness of stuff that we possess. With my first child, we had a proper nursery set up, complete with crib, matching wall hangings, swing, bassinet, stroller, etc. Fast forward 8 years to the birth of my fourth child...he has no room of his own: we have a co-sleeper attached to the side of our bed, we have no swing: I have never found them useful, we have no bassinet: also useless. I do possess a small stroller, but I have had only a few occasions to use it. I have only found a few baby products that are of absolute necessity. 1) My Medela Pump In Style breast pump: I bought this pump in 2001 after the birth of my first child...I am still using this pump during child 4. There are a couple of pieces that I need to be replace, but all in all, it was well worth the $230 I spent on it. 2) My baby slings...I really, really believe in the power of baby wearing. I have a few different slings. My Mei tai sling is my favorite. I refuse to haul an infant seat around, I'm just not strong enough. I can strap the baby to me with the sling and go about my business whether it be grocery shopping or house work.

I'm not saying that baby stuff is unnecessary for everyone...we all have those things that we simply MUST have...I'm just saying that I personally find that I don't need the majority of baby crap that's out there. I don't find that I use them enough to justify the cost. People look at me funny when they find out that my baby doesn't have his own room. Why does he need one? Will he miss not having one? Definitely not right now. I'm not saying little Cian will never have a room to call his own...I just don't see the point in setting up a nursery that he simply won't use.

I have found pleasure in living with less. We don't have t.v. at home. We have actual televisions with dvd players and, yes, VCRs. We have tons of movies for adults and children...we also have a play station and an Xbox 360. It eases my mind that I know exactly what the children are watching and that they aren't being bombarded with advertisements. We really don't miss cable. Most of the stuff on t.v. is crap anyway. I miss some things: American Idol, Big Brother, Food Network...but, do these few things justify getting satellite? Not so far...