In the spirit of the Olympics, the BM and I have created our own event. I like to call it the Registry Marathon. Unlike the amazing runners that qualified for London, we sprinted at the start and have yet to finish the race. Clearly we are amateurs.
Not listening to the advice to register online, a few weeks ago we decided to run down to our neighborhood baby superstore and complete our registry. We strolled in, got handed a scanner gun and got to work. I figured we’d be in and out in 30 minutes or less….how hard could this really be?!? Wow, was I wrong. We had to call it a night after only getting through half the store. I was wiped out after trying on diaper bags, getting knotted up in a Bjorn and almost getting my finger bitten off by a collapsing stroller. I never thought I would say this, but baby stores are intense and many of the products are downright silly.
Many of the baby books and websites offer registry checklists. If course, I was the one who claimed I wouldn’t need something silly like that. How much could a baby really need? Please let me now clarify my past statement: Babies don’t need much, but first time parents go way overboard and may find it helpful to use a registry guide/list to rein it in a bit. I think that BM has logged into our registry online and refined (deleted items) it a bit.
Caution to first time parents who have not registered yet, it’s easy to get out of control. Remember, your family and friends are going to be reading and purchasing items off of the list you are creating. Control yourself (because I couldn’t). And, have a friend or family member with kids review your list and make suggestions. Or like me, have your sister read it and call you with a items that you are missing, have a mild panic attack, drive the BM back to the baby superstore to go wild with the scanner again, then come home and update your registry online with the 200 items that you MUST have missed while in the store, AND FINALLY sit back and wonder where the heck you are going to put all of the stuff.
I now try to remind myself that this is a marathon and we have to start slow, conserve energy and finish strong!
