I.Heart.Consigning.

I have turned into this person who can not shop off of clearance racks for my own clothing. Can't do it. I hate digging through, what I feel like are, other people's picked-overs. I never find the diamond in the rough, if you will. I'd much rather have a coupon and shop regular-priced items. Or, go shopping on a sale day.

But, having baby Cohen, I have discovered a whole 'nother side of myself. I like going to consignment sales. There. I said it. I won't dig through a clearance rack for myself, but I'll rifle through rack after rack and row after row of baby things to get a good deal for my Cohen. Also, I see how ridiculously fast he's growing, and I sure don't want to pay full price for anything he's gonna grow out of in 2 months. Shall I give one more reason? My boy is a mess sometimes. Now, he doesn't spit up all over his clothes.. And when mom's would tell me that they'll poop on their clothes, I thought to myself, "maybe your child poops on his/her clothes... ahem, but mine won't.. I'll actually change his diaper." Well. I'd say that about 2-3 times a week, Cohen's diaper fails the test. Somehow or another that odorless, staining, mess escapes out the back of the diaper, sometimes within 30 seconds!

Enough of the nasty stuff. :) A few weeks ago, Hector and I went to Divine Consign in Plano. This was a big huge sale at the Plano Convention Centre. We bought him a couple summer outfits for dollars each, some Baby Einstein videos for a couple bucks apiece and the book What to Expect the First Year. New, in a store, we would have paid about $80. I think we paid $23. :)

Last week, I heard about a different consignment sale called 3 Sisters Consignment. This one was in Dallas at a church. (Thanks KJ!) Well, I had full intentions to go. Then yesterday night (Thursday) I checked the email about it, so I could put it down in next weeks calendar and surprise! It's tomorrow morning (today)!!! It was already almost midnight and the sale started at 8 am. And I knew I needed to be there early to get a good look and get anything good I saw. So, I was in bed by 1:30 am, up at 6:30 am and out the door at 6:45 am. I arrived at the church at 7:30 am. Not a soul there. I thought, great.. they cancelled it and I drove all the way to Dallas for it.. :( But I waited. And slowly but surely, minivans and suburbans started pulling up next to me. So at 5 'til 8, I went and stood by the door, 4th in line. :) It was so nice to be one of the first. It was quiet and cool and I could kinda just browse slowly. No one was cutthroat, no one snatched anything out of my hands. I was texting Hector pictures of things to get his opinion. He was texting me things to look for. It was a successful day!

I got this Balboa Baby sling for $10, and it retails for $60.

Cohen doesn't fit into the hot sling anymore, or I wouldn't have needed a new one. Look how he loves it! And we went walking today and I put him in this and he was snoozing inside it after about 10 minutes! :)

I got this Baby Einstein Jumparoo for $15, it retails from $80-130.

He really likes this one! He's still a little small for it, but his little toes just barely touch the ground on it's lowest setting. We plan on him getting lots of practice in this one, so he can be a pro in the bouncer Granna and Pop have for him at their house next time we go!

Yep. I heart consigning. It's such a deal. You just have to bring it home and wash all the fabric parts and wipe the plastic down with Lysol. No biggie.

We also love the stores Once Upon a Child and Green Beans. These are baby and kid resale shops with very cheap clothing. Every mom should know about these stores! It's just a shame to spend a ton of money on all these baby things that they outgrow pretty quickly.

Do you have any baby stores you couldn't live without? :)

Also, Cohen is getting better at the Bumbo seat!

With my help, he held some of the letter links and waved them around like a big boy!

And here he is engrossed in his Baby Einstein: Baby Noah video (all about animals!).