Registry at Babies R' Us

With the holidays rapidly approaching some of our family has been asking us if we would like stuff for the baby for Christmas or do we need anything for our house, etc.  We decided that the best thing to do would be to go ahead and start a basic registry with stuff that we know isn't going to come and go in the store and is gender neutral.  Once we know the sex of the baby, we will then go back and add the themed stuff for the nursery, clothes, bibs, etc.   As I mentioned in my last post, I have been doing a LOT of research on the top rated products by consumer reports and other moms.  I figured that we would be in and out in an hour tops, I mean how hard could this be since we already did a lot of the work at home?  However, our "hour" registry trip turned into 2 1/2 hours.  I should have known better when I suggested that we stop for bottled waters at the gas station and some snacks beforehand.

Shawn, my sister Ashley and myself walk into Babies R' Us loaded with our spreadsheets, the baby bargain book, paper and pen.  We walked in and of course stopped into the bathroom before we even got started; this seems to be the norm lately.  We then went up front to the registry desk and sat down.  Their was a couple to our left that looked very relaxed.  They had no book, no paper, nothing.  Then it was us, loaded with equipment to make this process as painless as possible.  Lastly, a woman who walked up and was waiting to register (she did not look prepared either).  The employee who got our basic information and handed us our packet, which listed out things to register for, seemed as if she was on auto pilot and had no enthusiasm whatsoever.  While the employee was entering our information into the computer, I kept noticing the lady, that was waiting, checking out my book.  She apparently had not done any research because she filled out the paperwork and then we didn't see her again.  After a few minutes, the employee handed us our scanner and we set off.  We decided to start at the front of the store and moved down each aisle versus running back and forth all over the place.  Shawn was in charge of scanning while Ashley was in charge of marking things off and referencing the book if I needed her to look something up.  My job was to read off the brands that we had selected beforehand for each category.  The next clue that should have told us we were in for the long haul was the people who had a printed registry and looked absolutely bewildered.  They kept saying, "I just don't understand why their is so many different brands and types of pacifiers."  They were clearly guests to a shower and just wanted to grab something and get the heck out.  It is really something to see other people in a baby store.  You have the people who breeze past you with the look that says, "this is my second home."  Then you have the ones who, like I mentioned already, clearly just want to get a gift and leave.  Then  you have the types like us who are pregnant and trying to figure out what they really need for their baby.  Anyway, back to us registering.  It started off a bit rocky, but each section that we moved to got a bit easier.  Well, until we got to the strollers and car seats.  I knew that this was going to be the hardest area for us because I had lots of people tell me to push the different strollers around, see how easy it is to fold them up and how heavy they are.  With the car seats I was encouraged to hold it and see how heavy it was without the baby, how the grip fit in my hand, etc.  Hilarity ensued when we couldn't figure out how to get the snap and go stroller base to fold up and Ashley had to go ask one of the employees.  Then we got really excited when we found a stroller that matched the car seat and the pack and play!  We then realized that the high chair we wanted is also the same pattern.  We also had a great time in the health care aisle when we were trying to decide what butt paste to get!  It also came to a point where we just started scanning stuff and telling ourselves, yes our baby really does need this cute pacifier carrier.  I mean seriously when we were young our parents probably just threw them in whatever bag and hoped that they could find them when we were screaming our heads off.   

All in all, it was a successful trip, but we were absolutely exhausted when we were done.  I believe that we scanned 106 items and when we returned the scanner they lady said, "Wow, you all did a great job!"  Apparently all of our hard work paid off!