Registries

If you are reading this and are planning to look over my baby registries, then this post is for you. The main point: I’m sorry our registries aren't very good.

I had no idea that creating a registry would be this hard. The wedding registry was actually fun. We just picked out stuff we needed and stuff we thought would be useful and fun. And since our household was already established, there weren’t any big choices like furniture. 

A baby registry is a whole other animal. Besides what looks cool, useful, and/or fun, we have to worry about safety, comfort, and fit. I’m a bit overwhelmed. In fact, the first time we walked though Buy Buy Baby, we literally walked once around the main level of the store without leaving the main aisle, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I didn’t even realize there was a second level!

A good friend recommended the book “Baby Bargains” which discusses ways to save money, and discusses the pros, cons, and costs of baby items based on feedback from real moms and dads. I snatched it up, and it is a good book, but I am having trouble reading it. The book is so dense with information, that it is impossible to process it all. For example, a couple months ago I glanced through the section on cribs and read the article on co-sleeping.  Since I am interested in this concept, I was pretty excited to find that there is an alternative to the Arms Reach Co-sleeper. Now that I’m trying to register, I completely forgot about that article. So I’ve been getting frustrated because the store didn’t even have a floor model of the Arms Reach Co-sleeper to look at, it gets some bad reviews, and my only other option for co-sleeping appears to be to rig a crib as a sidecar to the bed. Unfortunately we don’t have a real bed frame, so I’m uneasy about trying to rig a crib safely. Today I turned back to the cribs section of the Baby Bargains book to see what they had to say about Arms Reach, and I found the article on co-sleeping again.  Oh look, I have another choice, even if I can’t put it on my registry. Of course I still don’t know if a Baby Bunk will work with our bed either, but it seems more likely than rigging a crib. And that’s just part of the crib debate. So the verdict is still out on the cribs and sleeping arrangements.

I am really trying to make some progress and get some items listed on my registry. But it is slow going. I actually turned over the research for infant car seat to Aaron. He came up with the expensive Chicco Travel System. It gets really good reviews. I was hesitant, because of some of the cons, so that was another item we went to see at Buy Buy Baby yesterday. Luckily they had a floor model. The sales guy was really helpful, pointed out all of the features, and helped me figure out how it worked. The most awesome moment was when I asked how we’d know if it would fit in the car. “We can take it out to your car and check.” Awesome! He radioed that he was going outside to do a car check, picked up the infant car seat, and headed outside. We didn’t actually strap it in, but he did check the location of my car’s LATCH system. Too bad for the budget, we liked the Chicco travel system, and it fits in our car.

Have you looked at high chairs lately? They all look like car seats on a stick, alien pods, or torture devices. We’re leaning towards an expensive torture device.  I was not amused when I read “wipe clean” on a cloth, padded, car-seat looking high chair. Really? As adults, we can’t even keep our stain guarded couch stain free, and we’re expected to wipe clean a padded cloth high chair that has been food bombed by small child. What a joke.

Hopefully you can see why I am so overwhelmed and confused with picking out baby items for my registry. To make matters worse, you can probably find that most items are less expensive at other retailers (*cough* Amazon.com *cough*). But I’m going to be selfish and stick with the registries I’ve set up. I like having the ability to go to Buy Buy Baby and see the item in person, even if they only have half the items in stock. Plus Buy Buy Baby gives parents a discount on their registry items after the baby’s due date. Did you notice I haven’t mentioned my other registry at Think Geek? That’s the silly registry of cool geek baby stuff that we want but probably don’t need. It was easy and fun to set up, but probably not very useful.

So I’m sorry that my registries are crappy. If you feel the need to buy us a gift, and find it cheaper elsewhere, go for it. If you feel the need to give us a gift and don’t like anything on our registry, then buy (or make) something else.  Because really, I don’t think you should be getting us gifts. So we’re going to be really appreciative of anything we get, even if it is just a card, a hug, or a prayer.