I wasn’t even going to make a baby registry…

In fact, when I discussed it with my two best women, I was adamant that I didn’t know enough people for a registry to work, and no one would buy me anything. As far as I was concerned, I was going to have to foot the bill for whatever my baby needed, and I was prepared to do a lot of footing – based on all the research I did about what babies needed in the first year.

I eventually caved in to the peer pressure from my friends and created a baby registry on Amazon. First I struggled with what to put on it. Then I did more research, read a million reviews, blogs and test reports…compared prices, spoke to other moms and made a list.

To put it simply, it’s one of the things I’ve done in my life that I can absolutely say I do not regret! Here’s why…

A week (literally ONE week) after bashfully sending out the registry to a couple of contacts in my phone book, I started getting calls from my courier. Then the boxes started pouring in – boxes and boxes and boxes of everything baby. People would call me in offended tones, ‘how comes you haven’t sent me your registry?!’ My living room rivaled ‘Babies R Us’ and before I knew it, basically everything was bought from the registry – even things I thought no one would buy!

But it didn’t stop there – my friends threw me the sweetest baby shower (honestly) and I went home with a car-full of gifts – and diapers, diapers, diapers (from a diaper raffle – brilliant idea if you ask me!). Cousins sent baby clothes, old and new clients dropped off gifts (including ca$h!) and old and new friends seemingly just looked for a reason to give me a bag of goodies every time they saw me.

The outpouring of love and gifts for Baby Luca and continues even to this day – and now, on top of all those gifts – I have offers for baby sitters, house cleaners, hair-washers-and-combers…you name it.

I’d blame my crying as I write this post on the pregnancy hormones – but the truth is – I’m grateful for all the blessings my baby boy has brought into my life. I never imagined I could ever receive so many gifts, and have so many people in my corner, ready and willing to help. I thank God for every single one of these persons He’s put in my life, and praise Him for the unique purpose He’s given to each of them.

More than anything, I’m grateful that I get the opportunity to be Luca’s mom – he truly has been the greatest gift of all!

When things settle down…I promise to do a review of the items on my registry (and even the other gifts I got) and talk about how I got everything shipped to Jamaica without being buried under customs and clearing fees.

PS: To the person who bought Luca’s crib – thank you! Really wish we knew who you were so we could put a name on this.