Traveling with Babies: Do you really need to buy a car seat?

maxi-cosi-pebbleFor a long time before our baby arrived, I was in two minds about whether to buy a car seat for our baby or not. Car seats can be expensive, considering the fact that we don’t even own a car. The only reason I was even thinking about buying a car seat was in order to bring the baby home from the hospital after delivery and for those rare occasions when we might need to hire a cab. Another occasion could have been when we flew to India with the baby. Though many airlines offer a bassinet for babies, they are limited in number for each flight and there is no guarantee that you will get one every time, and to travel long haul with a baby strapped to your chest or in your lap sounded to us like a big nightmare.

So, I had my eyes on a few car seats which were not too expensive and kept a check on any offers online as well as offline. It finally happened that I ended up buying the Maxi Cosi Pebble.

This car seat has very good reviews everywhere and is accepted on all major airlines. Its market price was around 2400 SEK, but I got an excellent deal for it via babyshop.se, where it only cost me 1200 SEK after discount. So, it was a great buy. I also had the option of buying the 349 SEK car seat from Biltema, and in retrospect I feel it would also have worked out just fine if I were only going to use it in taxis locally. But since my plan was also to use them on airplanes when we visit India, I wanted to have the most approved model so that there is no confusion with the staff on a plane.

But, do you really need a car seat to bring a baby home from the hospital after delivery? I found that if you called up a taxi company, such as Taxi Kurir, you could then ask them to send a taxi with a car seat. So you don’t really need one of your own, unless you actually own a car and intend to use it regularly. Otherwise, with a good stroller, the public transport in Stockholm is excellent and one doesn’t really need to travel around in a taxi. I do not intend to do that either and am looking forward to many metro and bus rides with our baby in her Bugaboo. But you need to decide what works best for you. For me, it was a great deal at a great price and I could afford it, so I went with it.

So, in a nutshell, my belief is that you do need a car seat if you have a car. This is quite obvious. However, if you don’t have a car, then you can consider saving that money and spending it on something else, considering that taxi companies do offer the facility if you call and book in advance. It all depends on how big a use you think it is going to be, will you be flying with your baby with this car seat? How long can you use the specific car seat before the baby outgrows it and needs another model? Can you get by with a cheaper model, like the one from BilTema I mentioned above? Another important factor to consider is how good a resale value a specific car seat has as that can reduce the final cost of ownership.

Do share your thoughts on this with me by commenting below.

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It’s a Girl !!

its-a-girlOn the morning of 13th of January 2017, and after an excruciating 28 hours in labor, while it was freaking cold and snowing outside, the clouds parted and our ray of sunshine, our sweet little angel, finally entered our world.

“It’s a girl!” I announced to my wife with tearful eyes as the midwife turned the baby and opened her legs. The very next instant, the baby was placed on the mother’s chest, skin-to-skin. We were spell-bound. In that instant, we forgot all the tiredness that we had been feeling over the last 2 days. We had our baby in our arms.

We couldn’t believe it was a girl. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because we had become so used to the bump that it would still take time for us to process that it has now become a real person. We had imagined it would be a girl. We had also imagined it would be a boy. We knew it could be either. But seeing our baby girl for real turned out to be so different from imagining.

After a while, the nurse asked me if I would like to hold my baby for some time while they helped my wife relax. They asked me to take off my t-shirt and be skin to skin with my baby because she needs that. I was so scared. She was so tiny. I was scared of picking her up. But they told me I would be just fine.

It’s my daughter… It’s MY DAUGHTER!

And then I held her in my arms and everything else in the world became unimportant. This, Now, was Everything.

Our little baby girl is adorable and quite healthy. The mother is doing excellent, though still a bit exhausted. Our mothers are here to help us and they have both been amazing in sharing our load.

Even now, 2 weeks after the birth, I can’t believe I have a baby now. I can’t believe I have a daughter. I can’t believe I am a Dad now…. Maybe it will take some more time to sink in. Maybe, I should change the tag line of my blog now.

How has your experience been? Do share by commenting below.

(This post was originally written on 15th Jan 2017, but I forgot to publish it and only realized that today.)
(Pictures will be later.)

Crossing the Due Date

due date calendar

Today, 8th January 2017, was our baby’s calculated due date. But the little angel has decided to make us wait a little longer.

We had come to anticipate that our baby might arrive earlier than its due date. Why? Simply because we had been told that the baby can come anytime from two weeks before till two weeks after the due date. Add to that our excitement, being first time parents, and the fact that both our moms have arrived from India for the birth of their first grandchild. So, starting a few days before christmas, when folks at work started going for holidays, I would leave work everyday wondering if I would be coming back the next day or not. I’ve been going to bed every night half expecting to be woken up at odd hours to discover that my wife’s pains have started. Days have turned into weeks, temperatures have plummeted over 20 degrees, snow has covered the whole of Stockholm, but our baby has not yet shown up.

I remember once asking our mid-wife if it becomes apparent during the later stages of the pregnancy whether the baby might come earlier or later. Maybe the position of the bump might indicate something? She told us that there is no such prior indication and that the baby decides when it wants to come out. “Oh!” said I as I looked at the bump, “So, YOU decide?”

I spoke to the baby a few days back and told it (we still don’t know if it is a he or a she) that we have already completed all the shopping for it. I asked the baby what more it needs me to do before it is happy enough to come out. I did not get any answer, not even an acknowledgement.

So, I thought to myself if there was something I have forgotten to do or was there a certain way I needed to call the baby out? That it has grandparents and great-grandparents and uncles and aunts desperately waiting for it obviously makes no difference to the baby’s mood. I had to try something different.

So, that night I had an idea. Maybe the baby needs some sort of homely Indian stimulation. I created a playlist of top Govinda (a popular Indian actor from the 1990s) dance songs on YouTube and played them for 2 hours while we sat in front of the TV watching. In between, I would ask my wife if she felt anything different. No! So, the next evening, I created an even bigger playlist of other popular Bollywood dance numbers – old and new – from Salman to Shah Rukh to Aamir (amongst others). Despite another couple of hours wasted in front of the TV, nothing happened now too.

I have tried everything else I could. I have sung to the baby, danced, thrown commands at it, suggested dates, pleaded, but nothing seems to work. I guess it gives me a glimpse into the future of our household. Gone are the days when things progressed according to my planning. Something, rather someone, else is going to beat my plans from now on.

So, today, the due date is here and about to pass in another few hours. But our stubborn baby has quietly demonstrated who exactly will be making decisions over the next few decades. And, I better get used to it.

So, we wait again.

Bugaboo Buffalo: The Stroller We Finally Bought

buffalo2

The very first stroller that we checked out many months ago, and which we ended up buying last week, was the Bugaboo Buffalo. Back in July, while my wife was still only 3 months pegnant, we were in a shopping mall when we decided to have a look at the strollers.

The first thing we noticed about Bugaboo strollers was how premium they look. The color schemes were perfect, none of the curves or edges on any of the models looked weird or out-of-place. We thought that the Bugaboo Cameleon looked pretty amazing as well. However, we were completely blown away by the Buffalo, considering that its big wheels and higher load capacity suited the way of life in Stockholm much more than the other models.

So, at first look, we knew this was the stroller we wanted. However, when we found out the price of the Buffalo (at 11,500 SEK / 1300 USD / 1,00,000 INR), we weren’t sure we could spend such a high amount on it. But then, we had many months to go before we decided.

Over the next few weeks and months I did more research on strollers. I asked a few people for suggestions but never got a definitive answer. But everyone did agree that the Buffalo was great product. Anyway, we saw the Britax Smile 2 stroller, which was (at roughly 5,600 SEK) almost half the price of the Buffalo and was highly recommended by the stores which sold them. It was even recommended by the website bäst-i-test.se, which I follow seriously for advice. We liked the Smile 2 quite a lot as well, but I thought the shape of the chassis at the front was an eye-sore. Yes, that was the only thing I disliked about it, while also aware that it had a lesser weight capacity than Buffalo, but then the price was also accordingly low. But later I was told by one of the sellers that this model had frequent complaints of flat tyres due to them being air-filled. This made me think back to the Buffalo, which had foam filled tyres.

We also looked at the EmmaLjunga strollers and I found them to be very pretty as well. I definitely liked them much more than Britax models, but even the EmmaLjunga were a bit expensive. However, the biggest drawback to these were that they did not fold compactly enough, which was important for us from storage perspective.

While we had an open mind about the strollers, we started noticing other parents with their strollers all around Stockholm. Many of them had the Bugaboo which, incidentally, was our first love. They looked amazing and always stood out. By this time, my tolerance for the price was increasing and I knew that I could afford to buy it if I so chose.

So, then why exactly the Buffalo?
During my research, I ascertained that the quality of the Bugaboo Buffalo was excellent. There was nothing about the stroller which did not work as claimed. The foam-filled tyres, and their 12-inch diameter and swivel front hinges make the Buffalo wonderfully easy to maneuver, and its all-terrain capability make it perfect for heavy snowy conditions as well as other rough terrain. The two-wheel position allows you to effortlessly drag the stroller in sand. The handle-bar can be adjusted to different heights, which suits me (5’10”) and my wife (5’2″) equally well. The carrycot and the seat unit are approved to carry a child of upto an astonishing 17 kg. Add to this the 10 kg allowed in the under-seat basket and another 6 kg for hanging a diaper bag on the handle-bar and what you have is an actual Buffalo that carries all your load. And we tested the stroller with all these loads at a store and it made no difference to its maneuverability at all. It still moved equally smooth. The fabric colors were excellent and the canopy could be extended all the way down to completely cover the baby in very sunny conditions. And when folded, the Buffalo is deceptively compact.

Yes, there still were two downside to the Buffalo: its price and the fact that it weighs over 15 (or 17?) kg itself. The weight was a bigger concern for us because we weren’t sure if my wife would be able to handle it when moving around in metros and busses. But during the tests, she actually found this stroller easier to move around than the other lighter strollers from other companies. Moreover, the public transport infrastructure in Stockholm is so good that there is no place one cannot reach with a stroller.

As to the price, let me start by saying that nowhere in my research on the internet did I find a review of the Buffalo which said that they were overpriced for what they offered. The stroller is built like a tank, yet very easy to move with. It is the perfect combination of utility and aesthetics. The design is great and owners have been very happy. It comes with a 2+1 years extra warranty and I have heard that the stroller easily has a life of 5-7 years. And even then, the resale value is great as well. Considering all this, one could hardly call the Buffalo overpriced.

Finally, we decided that the first stroller we saw and fell in love with was actually a great product. We bought it at BabyTown, which is a nice little store in Stockholm and offered us a discount, which made it a much better deal for us. However, it is also possible to buy it online from the store BabyPlus in Netherlands. I have heard excellent reviews of this store (translate this link from Swedish to English and read in detail), they offer excellent discounts on the strollers and the accessories and ship to Sweden for only 20 Euros, and am quite convinced that they provide good service. The upside to buying the stroller from a store in Sweden is that you get förlossningsgaranti, which means that you can return the stroller and get your full money back in case something goes wrong with the pregnancy.

So, which stroller should you buy?
I realized that chosing the right stroller for one’s baby can be tough because different people have different needs. For some, the aesthetics are very important, while for others the budget is supreme. But going through all the tests, I discovered that there is no wrong choice. After all, I’ve never seen any strollers break up on the roads or children falling out because these were unstable. So, one must choose a stroller that they are comfortable with, and which they will enjoy carrying their baby around in, be it Bugaboo, Britax, EmmaLjunga, or any other brand. They all work just fine. For us, it was a stroller we loved at first sight, which we also found we could afford. So, we went with it and hope to have a nice time with our baby in it soon.

Do share with me how you decided on your stroller or if you have any questions.

The Count Down is On: 2 Weeks to Go

The last few days are upon us. Our due date is now less than 2 weeks away. And everyone says that the baby can come anytime, and without warning, during the 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the expected date. So it could be today. Or tomorrow. I don’t know.

How do I feel? I am not sure. There was a time over the last couple of months where I was completely immersed in planning and shopping for the baby, and all the fun had made me quite excited and eager. However, now that the wait has shrunk from months into weeks, and weeks into days, I am starting to get the jitters.

At times, I feel I cannot wait for the baby to come. But other times, I get really scared when I think about whether I have prepared correctly or not. What would happen when my wife’s pains start? Will it be slow pains at first which increase in an orderly fashion and give me indications of when to call the hospital? Or will something happen in a flash and I will need to act quickly? How well will I manage those tense moments when I take her to the hospital? Though we have already packed the maternity bag and the baby bag, will I still miss something on the last day? These questions give me a hard time.

A few nights back, while sitting in the living room watching TV, my wife let out a slight moan of discomfort – like she often does – but this time it gave me a jolt to imagine that that moment could just as easily have been the onset of labor. I started wishing ‘not today, not today’ in my mind and it took my some time to calm down. Since then, I have gone to bed every night hoping for an uneventful sleep. I feel utterly unprepared, even though I have done everything to prepare us and our home to welcome the baby. All our shopping is done, work is taken care of, in fact both our moms are here to help us through the coming weeks. The maternity ward’s number as well as those of the taxi companies are in all our mobile phones as well as pasted on the fridge in the kitchen. I keep reminding myself that when it is time, I have to think about my wife and baby’s safety and comfort above everything else. Yet, despite all this, I am nervous that I might be missing something.

I know that my being nervous sounds so unfair, considering what my wife might be going through in her mind. The baby is growing inside her and not me. It is going to come out of her causing her the worst imaginable pains and for an unknowable span of time. I imagine how scared she feels on the inside. She asks me everyday if the baby is going to be alright. ‘Of course!’ I tell her. We are two healthy parents going through a normal uncomplicated pregnancy, so we have no reason to feel worried. But I guess you do feel worried nevertheless.

All I do every morning is look at the fact that my wife has woken up feeling good and I hope to keep seeing her like that for just a few more days. I want her to be able to go to work and to the markets a little bit more before the baby comes. Maybe she is still preparing herself on the inside just as much as I am every day.

Even this morning while I was on my way to work, and right now while I am writing this post, I found myself asking mother nature to let the baby come as close to the expected date of 8th January as possible, believing that the next few days will end up preparing us better. Whereas the truth is, no amount of time can prepare you for it completely. So, we take each day as it comes.

What it really means to be a Father

What it really means to be a Father

superdadOver the last few weeks, I have been thinking deeply about what it means to be a father and what the main role of a father is. While I wait anxiously for the day when our baby finally arrives, a few things have shaped my feelings not only about what being a father would mean for me personally, but also how it does and will affect my wife and baby in the short as well as long-term.

The first was that, being in her eighth month now, my wife has been slowing down drastically in what she used to be able to do, from going to office to taking care of the home, cooking, etc. I found myself empathizing more with her, constantly trying to make her more at ease. I started taking us out for dinner frequently, so that she didn’t have to put effort in cooking dinner everyday. Whenever she seemed out of energy, I did everything I could to make her feel comfortable. Over time, I realized that it was making her happy and feel loved, and what else could I value more than having our baby born to a happy mother? And it wasn’t just for the baby, it owed it to my wife to do everything I could for her because she was going through so much at a personal level also.

The other thing that caused the biggest change in me was a bit more complicated. Many weeks back, my wife suddenly felt a bit scared by something and I was surprised by how her body started responding. She felt weird in her tummy and even the baby felt weird and kicked a bit more. I immediately stepped in to calm her down and insisted that she had nothing to worry about as long as I was here. She started to feel relaxed and slowly her physical discomfort drained away. This was the first time I realized how important I – the father – was to them. Even the unborn needed me to be there. They were my responsibility.

Over the next few weeks, there were some things that started to worry me deeply. I can’t share what it was, but suffice to say that it was not related to the pregnancy, but some factor outside of our control. As I thought more and more about the situation, the more worried I became. I was so stressed that I worried about it every minute for over a month. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t enjoy time with my wife or my friends. But as much as I wanted to, I never mentioned anything to her. And the reason was that I didn’t want her to worry. I didn’t want anything to affect her. Even though it later turned out that I was imagining too much and there was no need for me to worry about those things, I realized how important a father’s role is in the family: to keep them away from worries.

Also, while I was so worried, I could not say anything to anyone. But in all that worry, I suddenly saw some light. I decided to tell my dad about it, and immediately after sharing a bit of it with him I realized that I felt so much better and safer myself because I knew he was there. I knew that in the worst of situations, he would bail me out. So, even though I am now a grown man of 33 years, there are still times when the world scares me but I have a dad who I know will always be by my side to protect me and make me feel safe. And one day, I have to be that man for my children.

So, today I think I know what being a father – a Dad – really means. It is far more than love. It means making your family feel safe and secure and protected. It means becoming a wall between the world and your family.

Fatherhood is so underrated. What do you think? Do leave your comments below.

Mum n Baby’s Secret Language

The mommy often tells me that she can feel the baby moving and kicking around quite a bit in the belly.

‘It’s quite active today.’ she says often.

‘It’s moving so much today that it’s crazy.’

I put my hand on the bump and for a short while try to feel the movements. But I get no response.

My hand still on it, she looks right at me and asks me, ‘Did you feel that?’

‘No, I don’t feel anything.’ I complain. It’s as if the baby knows it’s someone else interfering with baby-mommy interaction and so it goes quiet. There seems to be this secret language between them using which the baby keeps telling its moods to the mother, while I – the father – have no idea what’s going on.

I wait a bit more, hoping to feel my baby’s movement at least once. But, there’s nothing. And then I finally give up once again and pull my hand away. It is a bit frustrating. The mother is in constant touch with the baby all the time and is on her way to forging a strong bond with it so early in the relationship, whereas I can only scratch my head and wait for the birth to happen so that my baby can get to see me and know that it has two parents.

On the other hand, I sometimes marvel at how magical the whole experience is. We are making a human being almost out of nothing. We are creating life. And my wife is playing a role that is so much more special than mine that I now find it natural why mothers enjoy that special bond with their kids which fathers seldom seem to be able to share in.

So, I often tease her and say, ‘Remember that this is my baby and that you only have it for safekeeping.’

At other times, I speak directly to the baby in its bump and remind it that it’s actually daddy’s baby in mommy’s belly. This gives me some solace. Makes me feel like part of the process. I am not irrelevant.

How has your own experience been? Please comment below and let me know.

Watching our baby in the womb

The first ultrasound doesn’t really show you much. The only thing it does is that it confirms that there is something inside and gives you something to start dreaming about. It is too small to look like a baby. Just a foetus. No arms, no legs, just something resembling a head and a small body maybe. No movement.

The second ultrasound was what really shocked us. Being our first pregnancy, we had never seen anything like this before. We could easily tell it was a small baby now and was so much different from the first scan. We could see its hands and legs, and body, and the head and a tip for the nose, the curve for the butts. It was incredible. We were now looking at a living being that we created. I got goosebumps and felt something indescribable in my heart when I saw it flapping about its arms and legs randomly, and twisted and turned its body away from us when the scanner moved over my wife’s bump. It was as if the baby was telling us it did not wish to be disturbed. It was doing something really important, in that it was slowly creating itself and growing up, getting ready for the outside world. Being created from a cell and growing into a fully formed human being is a tough job and our baby is so busy with it that it does not care for being disturbed.

Or? Or, was it calling out to its mamma and papa, trying to touch and feel us, asking us to pick it up and bring it out into the world and take care of it and decorate it with cute clothes and accessories and shower it with love? Maybe, it already knows it has first-time grand-parents, a great-grandmother, and first-time aunts & uncles all waiting for it. But wait we must and so must the baby.

And we wait. 8th January 2017.

Free Stuff for your baby in Sweden

img_3119Over the last few weeks, I have been immersed in researching what stuff we need to buy for our baby which is due in early January 2017. I have found, to my delight, that that many Swedish stores and websites send parents free stuff, also called Baby Boxes, which contain samples of various baby products such as diapers, baby moisturizer creams, bibs, soft pillows, etc. I think it is a good idea to get started with the these boxes to see and test what sort of baby products are available in the market.

I have already started registering and ordering these products and will describe each in a different post later, but for now the following are the options you have:

Babybox.se
Registering on this website places an order for a babybox from each of the following stores in Sweden:
Apoteksgruppen
Babyproffsen
Lloyd’s Apotek

All you need to do is, register online and they immediately send you an email with your order number. Go to your nearest Apoteksgruppen, Babyproffsen and Lloyd’s Apotek to collect your baby boxes from each of them. Each store has a different assortments in their boxes but basically you will get some helpful parental booklets, discount vouchers, baby creams, diapers, pillows, bibs, etc. (I have collected the free boxes from both the Apoteks listed on this site but am yet to go to Babyproffsen so I will share more details on their contents later.)

Apotek Hjärtat: Startbox
With Apotek Hjärtat, the box is named Hjärtats Startbox. You can read about it here. Even though the website here shows that the box is worth 349 SEK, it is free for those who sign up to become a member in their Klubb Hjärtat (for free). When I registered with them and ordered it, I got a mail saying it will be in stock in a week or so (owing to the high demand) and when it is available, they will send me a message to come and collect it. I will post details when I get it.

Allt för Föräldrar: Gravidpaketet
On this website, when you register and order your free Gravidpacketet, they will send you a post home with many free vouchers and discount coupons along with their parental guides. I have placed order for this already and I will update this post when I receive the packet. I guess these coupons might help obtain some stuff for reduced prices.

Libero Startbox
You can register for this here. They send you the startbox a few weeks before the expected due date. First, they confirm your phone number via email and then later send you an SMS with details of your order, which you can pick up from any ICA Maxi Supermarket. I have registered yesterday but will wait a while to see when they contact me. Then, I will post details of their box as well.

Babybag
Babybag is also a popular assortment of samples that is available with many of the hospitals and mödravårdscentral (mid-wife clinics) so it is best to ask your midwife about it. More information is available here. I will find out more about this when we see our midwife next. So, follow this post for more information on this.

BabyToBe
When you register at BabyToBe, they send you a list of discount codes, which you can use to buy some baby products at reduced prices as well as a free gift worth 300 SEK when you buy something from sveabarn.se.

Goboken
Goboken offers free books for kids according to their age. But honestly, I didn’t quite understand how it worked, though what I do understand is that if you register with them, they send you free welcome gifts. However, their registration asked for the baby’s name and birthdate, so I decided to register with them after the baby is born. Perhaps, if I figure out something earlier, I will definitely update this post.

I hope you found this list useful. There are many other resources available online but almost all are in Swedish, so I have tried to collect all this information in english so that it is easier for non-Swedish speakers to search and read. Naturally, this list isn’t complete yet, but I intend to update it with more information soon.

Have I missed anything here? Did you find any of my information is incorrect? Please let me know by leaving a comment below. I would love to know of more sources for free goodies for our baby.

Our First List of Baby Stuff to Buy

Our First List of Baby Stuff to Buy

When preparing for the arrival of a baby, buying the right stuff for it seems like a monumental task. Specially for new parents like us, who also need to figure out the What, When and Where from. Researching online has thrown up so much information that my initial list has now grown past 40 items.

newborn_list

Should I buy from H&M or other baby stores? Should I buy from an online store that is cheaper and delivers to Sweden? What should I do? And how soon?

I am just baffled. Does a tiny little baby that does not demand anything really need so many things to begin with? Do even adults with desires have so many things of their own?

Anyway, the first step for me to begin with is to divide the whole list into 2 parts: The Really Big Stuff and The Small Stuff.

The Really Big Stuff
This list, as the name suggests, contains stuff that is big in size as well as big in price such as Stroller, Car Seat, Baby Crib, Mattress, Baby Gym, etc.

This list is easier to make, since it contains so little, but difficult to fulfil. It has been months since we started looking into the various Stroller models across Stockholm but the problem is that we end up liking everything that we see. The price, the utility each model offers, etc. everything is so confusing. Similarly with the car seat. We don’t have a car, but do we need a car seat anyway? Will we need one when we take a flight with our baby? Do we need a baby crib right in the beginning or can it sleep in a Baby Nest instead? And so on.

The Small Stuff
This is the really tricky stuff and it seems to me that this list almost never ends, but keeps on growing. The stuff here might not be as expensive individually, but put together, they might surpass even the big stuff. Though it might seem easy, but when I think about which onsies to buy, how many, what size, what will they cost, etc., I feel overwhelmed and give up the decision-making for “later”.

For the sake of sanity, I have stopped adding more stuff to this list. The point of my post is not to overwhelm you but to show you how overwhelmed I myself am thinking about what to buy for our baby, which is due in January 2017.

Right now, I have no idea how I am going to start the shopping, let alone fulfilling everything in this list. With exactly four months to go before the baby is expected to come, it sometimes feel like we have a lot of time while at other times I feel a sense of panic. Adding to that the fact that we decided not to find out the sex of the baby, it has made our choices even more difficult because now we can’t even decide on the colors: whether it will be pink or blue. Hello Kitty or Batman?

I wish there was an easier way a first time parent like me could have my answers. Do you have any answers?