January 12, 2013

Babies R Us[uck!]

A baby registering we will go! 
Ugh... what a day. We finally had a free weekend together and thought, well iiii thought, we should take advantage of it and drag my husband out to the baby stores. I thought we'd start at Babies R Us, even though I think they're a little overpriced, because they'd have an abundance of all things baby and knowledgeable employees who could help us and start us off on our adventure. iiiiii was wrong! Oh-m-gee it was terrible. We started with an older lady whom I told I had already started a registry online, but she couldn't find it... so we created a new one. Well, when I went home, I signed in and found 2 accounts attached to my name, so now I have to figure out how to delete the other. Okay, not so bad. When we started out she gave us a brief overview of the store areas, but that was it. There was no one there to help us and we were totally on our own. I had thought to myself, earlier in the week, that perhaps it would be easier to go registering with a mommy friend rather than hubby, since we both clearly have no idea what we're doing! But I didn't want to exclude Jordan and thought that with the guidance of the store employees we could do it! I thought, lets save the furniture and big appliance area for last since it will likely be overwhelming, lets start small with bottles, binkies, pumps, bathing needs, etc.. wrong idea again! There are literally [no, literally!] 9,000 varieties of bottles, binkies and finger nail clippers! I freaked and said lets start small and look at clothes [which we don't even need] because those will be strictly fashion vs. function, an obvious choice. 
We found some cute shoes and a diaper bag for each of us. 
Strollers were great, we found a travel system/jogger we love! But couldn't find anyone to assist us in our questions, so I recruited an experienced mommy in the same aisle who was thankfully able to answer my basic questions. The stroller we loved was under a sign that said "Clearance; $104!" and we so excited, but when we scanned we realized it was not in the right place and found it is actually $250, but we really love it and maybe some aunts can go in on it as a group gift. Psst! Winky face!
I really like the idea of making my own baby food, so we looked at a bullet and packaging system, but as soon as I started looking at an ENTIRE WALL of baby spoons, snack grabbers, bottles and binkies, I just freaked and almost started crying. No joke, I was whining and Jordan was laughing at me. I completely realize how ridiculous I was, but like- how the heck am I supposed to know which spoon my kid is going to need in like 6 months, 9 months? When can he start feeding himself? I don't even know. And WHY are there SOOOO many!!? 
Side note-- there was a baby bath thermometer. Don't you just put your hand in it and if it's too hot then don't put your baby in it. Do you really need an octopus thermometer? I'm just saying, half that store was JUNK, just silly THINGS, gadgets that no one needs, but some  marketing scheme tricks new moms into thinking they need, which after one use will just take up room and collect dust. 

After about an hour and a few near mommy meltdowns I just decided we needed to leave and I'd come back fresh another day. There is also something to be said about at home registering online in the comfort of my own home with the wonderful world wide web at my fingertips! 

I can't say I was expecting a personal shopper to guide us around the store for 2 hours helping us pick the necessities from the nonsense. However a little assistance would have been nice. And dare I say expected-- when Jordan went to the register to ask for an employee to help us and nobody came. 

We've already inherited several of our big ticket items, so we're not entirely starting from scratch-- which is definitely nice, but I thought it would also have been nice to just go a clicking away so I could have more than 10 items on my registry--and at least feel like we'd accomplished something with our day. 

We went from Babies R Us to Target, which was better, then to Ikea, which was BEST. We found a crib & changing table we'll get once we move. The stroller we're obsessed with and everything else so far is just little trinkets and baby necessities. I plan to add more online, after doing some clearly much needed research into the life of a baby. And maybe next weekend I can drag one of my mommy friends  to help [one who hasn't read about my meltdowns!] 


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Should've asked me, I could've told you Babies R Us is complete and total shit and waaaaaaaay useless. Target at least has less options but the staff isn't knowlegdeable.
I'd say you have the right idea about getting a mom friend or even joining a mother blogging site, there's tons of moms who love to help first timers. Just google it I bet you'll find something cool.