Andi’s exciting life.

I realize that I didn’t post an update on Wednesday, but this has been a boring week. I kept waiting for something exciting to happen to write about, but no such luck. We got our crib bedding this week, and it’s gorgeous in person. I love it. I ordered a matching rug and green gingham window shades to go with it. Of course, all this stuff is just going to sit around unused for a couple more months, but since the pattern is discontinued I needed to order it while it was still in stock.

Since the crib and dresser I want said 12 to 15 weeks for delivery, I decided to go ahead an order it this week. I went on Wednesday, and it turned out they have what I want in stock. Since I don’t need it now, I’ll just go back in a month and either order it then or put it on hold (they will hold it for three months). The lady kind of told me I was way too early to be getting furniture, so I felt stupid for going in at all. I don’t see why she cares how proactive I want to be, but hopefully I’ll be taken more seriously if I go back next month. This is the crib and dresser that we are going to get, but in white instead of sage.

Despite my previous post shunning Babies R Us, I had to break down and start a small registry there too because a few of the things on my list are only sold there and not at Target. It’s not that I expect people to buy these things as gifts; I just feel organized if I have everything picked out and kept track of on a registry. My current first choice stroller is the Inglesina Zippy. This is subject to change since I change my mind quite frequently about the stroller, but I test drove this one yesterday, and it is really nice.

I told you this would be boring! Choosing baby furniture and gear is immensely fun to me but probably not very fun to read about. It’s just the only thing remotely like news that I have this week.

So, I have been eagerly wanting to go to Babies R Us (BRU) since I found out I was pregnant, but I was trying to hold off a while until it seemed like a reasonable time in my pregnancy to go look at baby stuff. After our excellent ultrasound on Thursday and since I’m about to be in the second trimester, I decided to go on the voyage to the store in Redwood City.

Well, I think that will be last time I go to BRU with this pregnancy. I was mainly wanting to look at furniture, and I hated every single crib they had available. Well, one was acceptable, but not good enough for me to want it for our baby. I hate the way most cribs are made because they have very obvious screws in prominent places on the front of even the well-made cribs. I think it looks ugly, and I’m determined to find a crib that doesn’t have any exposed hardware. So, looking at furniture was a bust.

They have about 10 choices of bedding there, and I don’t really like any of them. Well, OK, some of them are cute, but I want my baby to have something more original and not the same thing that every other kid has. Yes, I know the baby won’t know the difference, but I will.

I will admit that they do have a lot of strollers and car seats on display, and I did get to try out in person the stroller that I had already chosen online. That made the trip worthwhile, but I wouldn’t drive back down there to get it when I can just order it online and not pay tax or shipping.

I was so disenchanted by my visit that I deleted the small BRU registry I had started online and just added those items to my Target registry. Target has all the same stuff without all the hype, and the stores are much more convenient.

Now I just need to figure out where to get our crib…

Here’s a brief introduction for future reference: James and Lynne are our next-door neighbors and very close friends. OK, let’s get on with the story…

Yesterday, while Matt and James were at the Habitat for Humanity build (James went in my place), Lynne and I went to Babies R Us and Baby Depot (part of a gigantic Burlington Coat Factory) to look at cribs. This crib looking turned into looking at every baby product available, and it was very, very fun. I think I know which crib I want, but of course I will have to show it to Matt and see what he thinks about it. We don’t plan to buy nursery furniture until after our 18-week ultrasound, so we have some time.

Lynne and I also tried out a wide variety of strollers. There are so many! Some of them are very huge and heavy, and they all are difficult to figure out how to fold and unfold without instructions. We managed to figure them out though, and
this one seems to be the winner for now. It’s really the 3-dimensional fold and its lightness (relative to the other strollers) that make it so great. That and not having any plaid in sight. There are a couple of other more expensive brands of strollers with this same design, so I have to research whether or not those brands are better somehow.

At the Baby Depot they had a very wide selection of very cute and very on sale baby clothes. I got a few things that just couldn’t be passed up. I can’t wait to meet my baby and to dress him or her in the wide variety of outfits that I will have by the time the baby gets here. I also can’t wait to stop saying “him or her”…

Here’s our loot: