Well, at least we have the furniture! That was one of the biggest baby-related accomplishments of the weekend. After a fabulous lunch with our cousins Tasanee and Adam, we headed out to Babies R Us. We have done tons of research on just about every baby item imaginable and were just tired of guessing what we'd like. So we decided it was time to test our top picks in person, plus Babies R Us had a sale for 20% off nursery furniture plus 10% back on all purchases until November 24 so we figured it was as good a time as any to start. Our intention was to spend about 1 - 2 hours checking out the furniture we liked and some car seats and strollers. We ended up spending about 5 minutes looking at furniture (we loved our first pick in person!) then spent 3.5 hours debating the merits of the Graco SnugRide, Chicco Keyfit, and Peg Perego Viaggio infant seats and whether we wanted a travel system, a stroller frame, or a really nice stroller with an infant carrier attachment. If you're confused by all that, don't worry - we were too...for 3.5 HOURS!! It was so much easier to narrow it down in the research than in person. I HATED the Graco SnugRide carseat - it looked like cheap plastic and I didn't want to have to walk around carrying that thing. I loved the Chicco Keyfit, but the colors and style didn't seem to go with any strollers other than the Chicco ones. And finally, I loved loved LOVED the Peg Perego Viaggio - by far my favorite. It was so stylish and aesthetically pleasing and it looked sooo fabulous with the Baby Jogger Citi Mini stroller and with the Peg travel systems, but it is a bit more expensive than the other car seats (go figure - I fall in love with the most expensive car seat :P).
After car seats came strollers. Our original plan was to get a Snap n Go stroller frame where you can put in any infant car seat and it becomes an instant stroller. It would work for about 6 months, then we could go see what the baby really liked in terms of strollers and get something fancy and nice that would last through the toddler years. Well, turns out, we don't like the way infant car seats look on the Snap n Go - it just doesn't look right and there is no way either of us wanted to be seen pushing that around for even 6 months. We had initially vetoed the travel systems b/c they seemed really bulky, but we gave them a look anyway. Turns out we were right - we felt that most of them were really heavy and while they matched the car seats perfectly, they just didn't seem feasible for the long run. Next, we checked out another option - the nice fancy strollers with a car seat adapter. We could use those as travel systems while the baby was small, then go straight to the stroller once it could hold its head up. We LOVED these ones - the strollers were fun and fashionable and functional, and we even found some that were reasonably priced. We've narrowed it down tot he Citi Mini and the Peg Perego SI - both are really light weight and the Citi Mini collapses with one hand - you just have to pull the snap! It's awesome! And you can buy a car seat adapter. It only took 3.5 hours and a bit of frustration, but it was well worth it to finally figure out what we liked and didn't like in person. We'll call it a success. We'll also give Eric lots and lots of points for DVRing the Penn State game so that we could go baby shopping:)
I have to say that first experience in Babies R Us was totally overwhelming. We walked in and I had a mild panic attack. There was so much stuff, and what really makes it scary is that most of it really isn't for the baby. It's for the parents. Because let's face it - my child isn't going to care if it's in a Graco car seat or a Peg, it's not going to care if it's in Bugaboo or a Snap 'n' Go and it's definitely not going to care if it's furniture is a $1000 crib from Restoration Hardware or an $80 one from Ikea. All those items have to meet basic safety requirements and the cheapest item will definitely serve the function of the most expensive item. The difference is what you as a parent feels is a reflection of your own style and lifestyle. And that, I've realized, is how all of these places make crazy amounts of money - lots of parents (myself included) want to still feel fashionable, trendy, and cool. When your designer bag must be replaced by a diaper bag, your fancy jeans are covered in toddler food and spit up, and your sexy dress from last year just doesn't seem to fit the same no matter how many crunches you do, it's really hard to feel fashionable and trendy and it feels like one way that you can still get that feeling is by choosing baby items that reflect your sense of style and taste. Now I'm not saying this is how you should get that feeling back, but just my sense at how a lot of baby items are being marketed, and why a lot of people spend a lot of money on a lot of things that are completely unnecessary. I am 100% sure a lot of the purchases we will make will be more expensive than they have to be, but the way I look at it is that a lot of these purchases are going to be my accessories for the next 2-4 years, so I might as well get something I enjoy looking at (as long as we can afford it:P)!
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