While creating our baby registry at Babies-R-Us a few weekends ago, my husband and I learned some very valuable life lessons which I would now like to share with all of you. I think that all of you mom’s will appreciate some of the insights/blunders of first time parents.
- Life is better when you’re together. I was blessed to have a husband who wanted to come with me (which I suspect might have something to do with making sure we got a diaper bag and baby carrier that he would be willing to use). In addition, my mom and my sister joined us for the expedition. I think we spent the majority of our time laughing with each other. First, there was the fact that none of us really knew how to operate the baby equipment. Then, there was the fact that Christine, my sister, wanted to be the one with the scanning gun. It was simply crazy fun. Being with the people you love most definitely makes tedious tasks a whole lot most enjoyable!
- Babies might be tiny, but they need a whole lot of stuff. (My husband says that a new baby requires a lot more stuff than a new wife…I am still deciding if I am supposed to be offended by that). I own a 2002 Ford Focus and after this trip I have serious doubts about whether or not my car is actually able to handle all of the stuff we will need to take with us. We also concluded that our one bedroom apartment is in desperate need of rearranging if we will still be living were when our baby arrives in May. Based on what we registered for, I think that our child will have more stuff than Nate does in the house.
- Car seats were made to be operated easily only by people with engineering degrees. I really hope that some of the employees or other customers were able to take some time to stop and stare at the four of us as we attempted to decode the baby items. We actually had to ask a fellow customer how to detach the car seat from the base and I am pretty sure it took Nate about 5-8 minutes to successfully fold one of the strollers. Once we figure it and get practice I am sure it will not be so complicated, but, man, simplicity in life is something that baby designers have yet to learn. Needless to say, we went with the stroller/infant carrier/car seat combo in which the stroller folds up in one second. It was a great selling point.
- We are training our kids to be ADD. We decided not to register for any of the bouncy circle baby holders because every one of them made at least 20 obnoxious noises and had at least twenty objects for the baby to play with while he bounces. I have nothing against keeping kids occupied, but I am sure that they do not need to be over stimulated. I felt ADD just looking at them all lined up on the shelf!
- The baby store sucks the energy out of you and creates a time vortex in which your life slowly slips away from you. We were in the store for about three hours to get through all of the different products we needed. When we walked outside, it was almost like we were seeing daylight for the first time in years…and we didn’t even go super crazy with our registry list. Do they purposely make the air in stores so dry? It was a shame that they only had baby-sized mattresses or else I think we all would have been up for a nap!
- It would have been a good idea to pack snacks. I was actually surprised that the baby store had such a lack of snackage. For a store geared towards pregnant women, you think they would have taken this into account.
- This will most definitely be quite a new adventure. Even though it was an exhausting endeavor, it made having a baby much more of a reality! It will only be a few short months until Joseph Anthony graces the outside world with his presence! This whole experience taught me that there is still much to learn, but God will provide and Nate and I will go through it all together!
If you have anything to add, feel free to comment below. I know that many of you have some funny stories about discovering everything that goes into being a parent for the first time!
May God be praised!
