Take for example his bed, which is really a collapsible Playard from Graco. But, with a firm mattress it works as a really nice bed complete with teddy bears on a mobile with a wind-up music box that plays "twinkle, twinkle, little star". Actually the tinkling melody works very well on my wife, Kanittha, and it knocks her out in about five minutes flat. Let's hope it will work just as well on Nio.
His bed also comes with a fold-out, waterproof diaper changing area and a pouch on the side for diapers. You can also take off the upper level and drop the mattress to the base to create a playpen enclosure. The entire rig can get knocked down in a few minutes and packed up into a bag half the size of a small golf bag. This is supposed to be good for up to three years old.
We've also gotten him a stroller. We got a tremendous discount on the Alano™ Travel System from Graco. This full-size travel system comes with a heavy-duty stroller and a carrying basket that locks securely into the stroller or into its own car seat base. It's really easy to push around, but it's not as simple to collape and stuff into the back of a car.
In case the stroller gets a bit too involved, we have already prepared an alternative means of carrying Nio around. Here's a simple baby carrier we can use for him.
We've also got the bottle sterilizer for him, which has a capacity of up to eight bottles and also functions as a food warmer.
Nio will need all of his stuff safely put out of the way and stored properly, so we got him a real nice chest of drawers. It's probably the nicest and most expensive piece of furniture we own (right after our king-size bed). The drawers are already stuffed with clothes, diapers and all sorts of baby supplies, but there's still room for a little more.
We've also got bath time well covered with this really cool baby tub that comes with a very sturdy stand and a small compartmentalized basin for the various toiletries. Most likely my wife will prefer to put this tub on the floor, but I think I prefer the stand.
The stuffed toy department is covered as well... a monkey, a pig, a duck, a dog, a rhinocerous, a penguin and the Mamy Poko mascot. We also have a big white rabbit (not shown in this photo). Nio's got lots of toys waiting for him. And yes, that's our Siamese cat, Samuel, wearing a deep mustard yellow tee-shirt. Don't ask why. He's only supposed to be wearing that shirt on Monday's in honor of HRM the King.
Aside from all the baby stuff we've purchased, we've had all the mosquito screens in our little apartment replaced, all the air conditioning filters are cleaned, and we've gotten rid of the old refrigerator that came with the apartment and bought a brand new one that will keep Nio's food fresh and safe. There are still a few more bits and pieces we need to get, but I think we're ready.
