Have Triplets, Still Travel: Baby Registries and Final Shopping Trips

Being first-time parents we have been pretty clueless about what we actually need to have vs. what would be nice to have in order to raise babies. We've been assembling our list of necessities from online checklists and talking to other parents. However, the one thing that most parents and online lists don't take into account is that we have 3 times the number of babies to prep for! It's been especially hard to figure out what we need to triple up on vs. what we can share amongst the babies. For the most part our registries just asked for 3 of everything, our thought being that we can leave some of the bigger items (swings, activity jumpers, etc...) boxed up, try one out to see how many babies like it, and then determine if we really need to keep all three items or if we can get away with sharing.

I've been fortunate to be in touch with some other triplet moms who have been a wealth of information for us as we enter into this new world of multiples parenting. A former co-worker of mine from Chicago and his wife just had triplets about a year ago. Thank goodness for Facebook, otherwise I never would have known that I had access to a couple who were only a year ahead of where we are now! I reached out to his wife and she was extremely helpful in telling us where we should invest in having three of something vs. what we could share.

We were extremely grateful that our friends and family have helped prepare us for parenthood by spoiling our kiddos with clothes, books, toys, strollers, swings, and more diapers and wipes than I can ever imagine needing (but positive we will go through in no time at all!). But even after the 2 showers that were hosted for us, and the incredible generosity of our friends and family, we still had a LOT of things to purchase for the triplets.

Will's dad generously offered to take us shopping yesterday so we could finish up the majority of our shopping list for the boys. I think he enjoyed walking through Babies-R-Us and kept remarking about how much has changed since he was raising his kids 30+ years ago. The baby industry has certainly grown since Will was an infant! I think we all particularly liked reminiscing in the toy aisle. Yes, there were lots of new, modern toys, but there were also a lot of the same, simple toys that Will and I played with when we were young. It's sometimes nice to see that even in a world that is so technologically advanced, kids still like wooden puzzles and that ball pop mower thing.

We walked up and down each aisle and by the end of our trip, had 4 carts full of necessities to finish prepping for the boys' arrivals! We can't thank Willard enough for helping us check off the majority of our must-have items from our registry. There are still a few items left on our list that we need to get in the coming weeks, but this particular trip went a very long way in helping us feel ready to welcome the boys home in a couple months.