Babies R' Us Hell

We registered this weekend. After about four hours in Babies R' Us (BRU)and two hours online...we are done (almost). We also bought our nursery furniture this weekend! That was after about twenty hours of shopping for those items. First the furniture....

Did you know that BRU pretty much has a monopoly on cribs in the triangle area? Well they do. Sure you can find them at Target, Walmart, and well that is about it if you want to physically see them. Furthermore did you know you can easily spend $1000 on just a crib and a dresser? Lets remember that this is furniture that they are going to bite, bang, pee on, and slam into on a regular basis. I don't even have $1000 furniture in my room. So our initial idea was to buy some of great quality that would last them for 12 years+. Well that soon got tossed out the window when I realized that it would be destroyed (no matter the quality) way before that. I also wanted black, but this is impossible to find without buying a higher end brand..think Basset Baby. We ended up getting our nursery furniture at Target, which I originally was against since they did not have full size displays for me to examine. But after some research we found that most people were quite happy with it other than a few paint chipping issues. We also got antique white because that is cheaper in price from some reason. It is a cute set and real wood (could paint it if I got the urge)! Both Crib and Dresser for a grand total (before taxes) of...... $400 dollars! That is a $600 savings from the BRU alternative. And half of their stuff was particle board. I feel like I got a steal! We are setting it up this afternoon so I will report back at a later date on that adventure. Here are some pics.

The crib looks white but it is actually vintage white as well. Oh did I mention it is a convertable crib...BRU of similar quality start at $400. All I need now is a bookcase, which I am eyeballing on line. PS Love the bedding...wish I could find it!

On to our registering experience. First let me say WE SURVIVED and you can too. Saturday's at BRU is torture for first time parents, but that being said is the ONLY place to go. The staff was awesome and mostly men which shocked me. I asked how many months of training they went through to be so knowledgeable! All the other stores were clueless. We first had to ask for help when after twenty minutes we could not figure out how to fold up the stroller. The odds of an engineer and a scientist not figuring this out is good for first time parent so don't laugh. Then when we moved onto car seats we had another great experience from the staff. Of course he did lecture me on how it was not a good idea to put a baby in the backseat of a convertible but we will let that slide.

Here are my tips for registering there

1. Register online first. Then you just have to go in and grab a scanner and get to work.

2. Avoid Saturdays, although I had no problem finding staff it was just CRAZY until after five.

3. Skip the shopping cart. There is just not room to maneuver it on a weekend. We ditched it after five minutes.

4. Do some of the little stuff online (e.g. bottles)

The big things we needed to put our hands on were the swings, exersaucers, strollers and car seats. Remember this is what everyone else is doing too. MADNESS! We spent an hour in the stroller aisle pulling them down, folding them, etc. Hint: It you are short and wimpy like me it is not an easy task to find a stroller that is usable. Plus finding one that doesn't take a huge amount of trunk space (refer back to convertible) is a chore as well. Travel systems are a WASTE OF MONEY!!! Don't do it. We saved by buying separate, plus those strollers are ginormous and heavy. We ended up going with the Combi Cosmo at a whopping 11 pounds. Light and folds the smallest without getting an umbrella stroller.

Only drawback is storage but I'd give that up for light and tight anyday. The Graco metrolite was a close second but was five pounds heavier and a lot bigger folded up.

The only thing we have left is bedding, a big debate among the parent's to be, and a bookcase. Whoohhhooo! Weekend mission accomplished.

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IT'S A.....GIRL!

***NOTE: Sorry it has been a long time since my last post but this account has been giving me trouble and I finally got it fixed***

Oh the lowest poll result won the race! I swore it was a boy, everyone was shocked. Mother's intuition...ha! I know many of you will be disappointed that the baby will not be coming out as a McDonald's McChicken sandwich, but it is almost a guarantee she will like them. Michael and I are very excited and have finally after five months begun the planning process of preparing for the little one. Up until now we have been very lazy and done nothing except count down the days until we found out the sex. I will separate the latest happenings into two post. This will cover the pregnancy woes and happenings and the next the (long) shopping experience.

I am officially twenty weeks as of today. THE HALF WAY MARK HAS BEEN REACHED! Only twenty more weeks to go. In the last month I had another doctor appointment and obviously and ultrasound. Let us start with my 18 week appointment. Let me preface this by saying in my 25 years I have never had a male OB/GYN. I just don't like them. How do you know what it feels like to have PMS cramps or this uncontrollable urge to kill your husband the week before you period, let alone know what it feels like to push a watermelon out of your lions. But my practice does have a few males and you have to rotate through all the doctors. So I had my first male appointment. So he comes in, opens my chart, and exclaims "ooooohhhhh I see we have had a surge in our weight this month." Just so you know pregnant women don't need to hear we are getting fat...ITS OBVIOUS! Then he says "well we should cut out all starches to control this." So I am sitting here thinking you give me this long list of foods I cannot eat...deli meat, certain seafood, my favorite Mexican cheese, caffeine, sugar, aspartame...the list goes on and now you want me to give up bread, potatoes, sweets, cereal. Yeah it ain't gonna happen. So we didn't get started on the right foot but I thought he could redeem himself by helping alleviate some of my pregnancy woes. I never have questions, concerns, or issues, but this past month had been rough so I needed some help. I came with a list of three things.

1. Q: I am EXHAUSTED! Still! This was suppose to end a month ago and I can still barely make it home, eat dinner, and not pass out after work. My house is trashed, I have a list of errands I cannot seem to get done...I am tired.
A: Sleep More

Thanks JackA$$! If I sleep anymore I am going to get fired for sleeping at work. Maybe my IRON is low. Oh but don't offer to check that.

2. Q: My back hurts so bad that sometimes its hard to walk/sit/drive.
A: More Rest

See previous comment. Maybe some back exercises would have been nice.

3. Q: At night my legs random start throbbing so bad I am brought to tears. I have to get up, in my exhausted state (see Q1) and walk around to get relief.
A: Respect the pregnancy

What the heck does that mean!!

So needless to say I was not happy after this appointment. Hopefully won't be seeing him anytime soon since it confirmed my male OB/GYN feelings of lack of sympathy. A typical male...tells me I am fat and send me on my way. But don't worry I stopped on the way back to work and got a bagel (no bread! haha!)

But the ultrasound appointment was awesome. My mother-in-law and 3yr-old cousin got to come back with us to see the ultrasound which they both loved. The baby is getting so big and was very active. All the bones were very bright from the calcification that has been happening. Probably all the milk I have drinking. Mmmmm Milk! And right at the end she sat on the camera and spread 'em. There was no denying she is a girl. I was going to post the "its a girl" picture but realized I would be putting my daughters Vjay-jay on the internet and something felt wrong about that. All I can say is that better be the only time her legs are open like that, and the one and only picture of her that exists in that context or someone is going to be in trouble. I am ordering the chasity belt this week.

It was beautiful. A very special moment. It was wonderful to have family there to enjoy it with us. We called most of the immediate family and let them know. After some disappointed..."we thought it was a boy!"....I think everyone is excited. All I know is I secretly wanted a girl so I am happy. Michael is a little disappointed that his train around the top of the room on a track idea is out the door, but I told him they might make pink trains and she can like trains if she wants to. She can like anything she wants.....

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