Shopping?!

For those of you who know me, I am not really a shopper. Some people are spend-a-holics while others are like me... spend-a-phobics. John and I decided last Sunday (a week ago) to take a look at Babies R Us and see what all they have. I was looking forward to it. After all, it should be a fun experience to look at all the fun stuff for babies right? Wrong. The store is like a warehouse and the amount of STUFF in there is insane! How does any new parent even know where to begin?

We decided to start in the stroller/car seat/carrier section. I didn't know you could buy it all together in one big travel system. But then, how do I know which ones are the safest? What if they are poorly made and fall apart right away? Does spending more mean it's better? Do we need two separate systems for our cars? John's Jeep won't fit a carrier in it so we'd have to get a traditional car seat for his Jeep... If it were just about looks it might be OK. But then again there are like 20 different patterns and colors to choose from and they are all either very boy or very girl. I want a neutral color so when we have baby number 2 (maybe a girl) we can use it all again. The sales lady tried to help us out but I was done after about 7 minutes. I didn't come to make decisions I just wanted to look at cribs.

Ok so moving on to the cribs but first we have to make our way through each isle. 10 different pack and plays, 14 different high chairs, 8 different little mat things they can roll around on and entertain themselves with, 13 different baths tubs, 4 different diaper Genies, and tons of little things that I don't even know what they are for... My head was swimming.
Finally we reach the bedding and furniture. No Noah's Ark stuff. That was truly the only thing I wanted to find and there was nothing like it there. 30 different cribs in every different kind of finish imaginable. Do we want a convertible bed? Do the rails slide down or not? Are there plastic parts or metal parts that babies can hurt themselves on? Do we need a bassinet? Do we want a dresser and a changing table or just a dresser that we can use the top as a changing table?

We've only walked through half the store so far. There's still the gliders/rocking chairs...about 15 different styles. Oh yeah, all the various pieces of bedding to consider and the mobiles...we just flat skipped the clothing isle.

I was so close to tears but I held it in until at least we got to the car. Sometimes I can be so irrational! What is with this cry over stupid stuff thing. Needless to say, I need some online research time before the next visit and probably an experienced mom to come with us. Who knows if all those things are really necessary.

I think we'll try Burlington Coat factory next. I hear they have a lot decently priced things in their Baby Depot section.