The Babies R' US Marathon

And so,on Monday night (partially to avoid the roaming throngs of sugar-crazed Trick or Treaters, many of whom were adolescents(and not cute at all) my husband & I took a trip to Babies R' Us. (for the first time) It was a kind of "get your feet wet" trip, to see what was out there...but we ended up spending about 2.5 hours in there. The game plan was NOT to make any major purchases until we know what some friends are giving us.(rumor has it, a bassinet & they already did give us a stroller thingie,car seat,& several other odds and ends,which is really nice of them because my family members are still using all their baby stuff) But apparently, there isn't any separate infant carrier that snaps into the car seat...which presents a real problem,because every single one of the 3 aisles(and 200+ options) of infant carriers also had car seats attached. I guess we'll have to look up that particular model online(and see if you can even get the infant carrier separately) In the meantime, we roamed around putting various odds and ends on our registry (in a mostly deserted store...since all the other parents were out doing Halloween stuff with the kiddos(except the first-time parents-to-be) and got a few essentials that it was highly unlikely anyone would buy for us.(like a changing pad,which we'll put on my desk to convert into a changing table,& a baby bath mat to fit into the sink) When you go into Babies R' Us though,you're pretty much going to BLEED money (and find "essential" items that you absolutely cannot live without. (even with the best of intentions) I also intend to get a breast pump,but looking at all of those options put my brain into complete shutdown...all those options/prices/not having a clue what I'd need. I'm sure I wouldn't be the first person to have a mental breakdown in the middle of that store though. (or to spend too much) All in all, I think we controlled ourselves pretty well though. (on the spending) Even my husband,(your own spouse may vary...most of them would probably rather stay home and watch Monday Night Football)who is less-then-enthusiastic about shopping/spending money got into it.(and appeared to have fun)

And now I know how much I absolutely don't know about all of this...yet somehow,all of these "essential must-have" items that kids 40 years ago didn't have (and turned out just fine) that they encourage somehow turn up on the vast majority of parents-to-be lists. Of course, there are the basics...and the things that really,really,make it easier to keep your baby happy(like swings,etc) but deciphering what you really need is kind of difficult when it's your very first kid.(you could walk in there and blow a couple of grand, I'm sure)