Warning: This entry is being written by the husband of Kristin whose has had 2 strong drinks to celebrate the announcement of his son coming into the world soon! See next entry!
This entry goes out to all the ladies who have had kids in the last 5 years. (I am talking to you Michelle in Minnesota, Sarah in Colorado, Jen in Bakersfield, my sister, and Lisa in San Marcos just to name a few!)
I had the wonderful opportunity to try my hand at baby shopping/registering with my beautiful and wonderful wife. I explained to her that I did not want to shop for 1000 items and I wanted to have a plan before walking into the store. Not too much to ask. We decided that we would shop/register for bottles, nipples, and breast pumps (see a pattern here?!?)
Note to any guys who have not done this yet: Baby shopping is NOTHING like planning for a wedding registry! In a wedding registry, you are shopping for the both of you and each of you know what you need and don’t need. In baby shopping, you have NO clue as to what you will need or want and you have no clue as to what your baby will like or not like. Back to the store…
So we enter the section called “nursing” to look at breast pumps. Let me tell you what I know. I know breasts. I know what they look like and what they are good for. I know they come in wonderful shapes and sizes. I know that no pair is alike. I also know pumps. I know pumps are used for hydraulic oil on construction equipment and for moving water through pipes. I know pumps come in all shapes and sizes. I know that pumps can be used for many different things. So how are breasts and pumps related….NO CLUE!
My wife asked me what I thought. I looked at the cheapest option and said, “This would work.” Whoops! WRONG ANSWER. Next comment I made: “Why don’t you just borrow one of your girlfriend’s pumps and we can buy replacement parts?” (It’s not like people keep those things lying around if you are done having kids, right?) Again, WRONG ANSWER.
My beautiful wife then proceeded to tell me all the different models and their options and their grades based out of some reviews from a book she picked up (Baby Bargains). This was not a problem, but I wish this was done before coming to the store. My interest in breast pumps ended after the 2nd model and its options.
The next section of the store was the BPA FREE section. (Note: BPA has been in all kinds of plastic since the 80’s. I know that it caused some kind of cancer in some kind of rat in some research lab, but remember this: All of us were raised on this stuff and look how we ended up. Enough said about that.) Ask me what I know about bottles, nipples (I know a lot, but it is the wrong kind), and binkies…NOTHING. After listening to the beautiful voice of wife explain to me the differences between all of the above in the BPA Free section, I again just found myself saying, “What do you want to get?” I find that this can elevate long periods of frustration for the both of us.
So here is my “I am on the ground, begging you, pleading with you, please for the Love of God, tell me the following:” to all our friends who read this blog and have kids:
1) What are your top 10 items you could not live without or were glad you registered for?
2) What did you buy/register for that you never used or found to be a waste of money?
3) How much do we really need to register for when the first 3 months of our child’s life is spent drinking milk, peeing, pooping, and sleeping?
4) Does any of this get any easier, or will I find myself in a corner crying and banging my head on the wall?
God’s Peace to all,
Hubs.
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1 comment:
A bouncer is a must. And baby rings. You can hook all sorts of things onto rings, and can hook the rings onto all sorts of things.
Useless? A diaper genie. Complete waste of money. They don't fully contain the smells, they stop working after awhile, and the inserts are expensive.
Do not register for clothing. Clothing styles come and go so quickly, you probably won't get much of what you registered for anyway. Buy what you think you can't live without, and let others choose everything else for you. Experience has taught us that most people will buy baby clothes as gifts in addition to things from your registry. Besides, you can always return/exchange anything you don't like/need.
Register for everything you think you might need for the first year. You'll be amazed at what people will buy for you.
Also, don't open everything up at once, and don't cut the tags off right away. Wait awhile, even though it'll be really hard to do. That way, if you find you don't need it or end up not using it, you can return/exchange it.
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