Registered

It's truly incredible how many things you need for a baby. Equally perplexing is how many things manufacturers market insisting this is something you have to have for your baby.

Dave and I have spent the better part of the past several weeks going through items and setting up registries. This took far more time than we initially thought. Registering when you get married is fun. You pick out patterns and equipment and go through scanning items you think will look good in your house and items that will add to your kitchen.

With a baby, it's much different. You have to think about safety and practicality. No, the over-hyped JEEP stroller will not fit in my car. Nope, this brand of crib has the highest rate of recalls. And nah, this carseat will only fit a kid until they turn x months old.

Dave and I are both information-oriented people. We work in news gathering information, so it's only natural that we usually think the more we find out... the less we actually know. After four hours of looking at cribs online one night, I decided we needed more help here. So, we called the baby planners.

In case you haven't heard of this new profession, it's about where wedding planning was 10 years before it became a popular and accepted profession and Jennifer Lopez glamorized it in the movies. They have their own certified organization. They sent out a weekly recall update. They help you with whatever you want. No, you don't turn it all over to them....unless you are willing to pay for it. Instead, they help you organize registries, information, appointments, birthplans, daycare, and installations. They cater to two types 1) working professionals 2) people without family nearby. Dave and I fit both categories, so this was a natural fit for us.

We met with our baby planners a few times to talk about we products we wanted and where we wanted to get them. We went through several questions ranging from the condition of our sidewalks in our city (rough, old and uneven, meaning a regular stroller would be much harder to operate), the size of my car (dictates car seat size), the size of our nursery (thinking cribs, monitors, etc), and our habits (we travel alot. So everything we need from a pack-n-play to a sling to a stroller to a carseat needs to be portable and versatile). After all of this, we got a 7-page spreadsheet with the three top choices each category divided up by safety and need. Convertible carseat? Choose from these 3 brands & types. This was truly awesome.

We spent about two hours at Babies R Us, one at Target, and maybe two on Amazon setting up our registries. The overzealous Babies R Us woman we'd spend 4 hours and come back several times to make decisions. Are you kidding?! Who has time for that? This after giving us a long spreadsheet saying we needed a long list of items that included a wipes warmer and a rubber duck.

We spent a bit more time adding to registries online, but I can't say enough good things about having guidance in this entire process. We are also enlisting the planners to help with our wierd childcare issues. (Do you know how hard it is to find someone that keeps a kid to 9:30 at night?! and with a varying schedule?!)

So scoff if you may, but I firmly believe going to the experts in this case is time and money well spent.