Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Baby Things

Oh my gosh! Do you have any idea how much stuff you are supposed to buy before you have a baby? I have recently learned that God made pregnancy last nine months because that is how long it takes to accumulate the 'necessary' items! When you register at a store, you get a list of 'Must Have' items for which you are supposed to register. This list is anywhere from 50 to 100 items without counting the many, many items of which you are supposed to have several. I have so many issues with this list I barely know where to start.

Where does all this stuff go? I feel like you are going to open the door to our house in six months and there is going to be a trail of baby items running throughout the home. Seriously. How do people who live in an apartment have a baby?

What is some of this stuff? If I don't know what something is and the description on the store's website doesn't clear up what I am supposed to do with it, do I still need to register for it? Do I really need alcohol swabs? I would not know what to do with an alcohol swab, but that may be because I am a baby idiot. Under 'Baby Care', protective mittens are listed. Are these for me or for the baby? What do they protect against?

Are some of these things duplicated on the list? I don't know why the stores would list something more than once, but is activity mat not the same thing as activity gym? Are a bouncer and a jumper really different and are both necessary?

What does 'Must Have' really mean? Okay, we've got bottle warmer (can I not use the microwave?), bottle sterilizer (does washing the bottles not count?), and drying rack (what's wrong with the dry cycle on the dishwasher?). We've got child-proofing items. We intend to have a fairly intelligent child, but if Little One is opening cabinets and sticking things in light sockets any time soon I think we've got a problem.

Now here's the kicker. Once you decide what you are going to register for, the options are endless. Let's overlook the important things like which of the 50 available car seats will protect Little One the best. Let's go to diapers. There are 117 kinds of diapers at Babies R Us. I am not making this up, you may check. I am sure I would be a better mother if I knew why I should register for organic diapers or sensitive diapers or Egyptian cloth diapers, but I don't. So I just threw Pampers into the search criteria. Yeah. You don't want to know how many types of Pampers there are. I did not register for diapers.

It is truly amazing that our grandmothers managed to have so many children before the advent of Babies R Us. How on earth did they survive without car shades and splat mats?

So, as of now, the registering is a work in process. We hope to have it completed before Little One enters the world. I fully intend to do my best and then take my registries to friends who have actually had children so that they can edit. I am mostly doing this in hopes that they will tell me that we will only need 50% of the things on the lists.

4 comments:

Leslie said...

You probably don't even need 50%! It is pretty overwhelming, though. Call me:)

Anonymous said...

I sent you an email. Figured my comments were too long to post. :)

Ann

Kelly said...

I just went to lily pie.com and followed the steps and then it gives you code that you can put in to "add a gadget" on your layout.
Hope that helps????

Anonymous said...

I didn't know what "layette" meant when I was pregnant. Even worse, when Faith was born, my friend asked if her eyes opened yet (hint: babies eyes open from the beginning...it's CATS who are born with their eyes closed).
btw, don't buy Huggies. My boss swore by them, but they leaked on Faith AND Grace. Faith never had a single blowout with Pampers (the kind they sell at Sam's). Wal-Mart diapers actually held up well, too, and I'm getting ready to try out a package of Target diapers...we'll see if I'm cursing them in the middle of the night like I did Huggers when I had to change all of Grace's bedding, clothes, and give her a bath at 2AM.