Saturday, July 26, 2008

Six Weeks and Counting

We are fast approaching the arrival of our first grandchild. Preparations are under way! If my health permits, I will be his Nanny when his Mommy and Daddy return to work and to graduate school. And since he will be spending many days with his Grammy, we felt that we should have our own nursery at our home.

With our daughters all grown and raised, we have an abundance of vacated bedrooms, so there was plenty of real estate for the addition of the nursery. Grandpa and Grandma have been busy at work. The room has a Noah’s Ark theme and Grandpa did a great paint job with stripes that would make HGTV quite proud! He could be the next HGTV Design Star.

Today we went to purchase a crib and mattress for the nursery. Naturally, we had to pick up a “few” other items. We had to select a bathtub in the event the little man decided to have an ultimate mess while visiting. And with the bathtub purchase, we definitely needed to pick up baby soap, wipes, a comb and brush. It’s amazing at how much paraphernalia a baby requires.

Next we purchased a baby monitor. The only monitors we had when our daughters were young were called eyes and ears. Nowadays, everything from television monitors to movement monitors to monitors that detect the slightest whimper fill the aisles of the baby superstores. My husband felt we probably didn’t need the monitor because I will most likely sit in my rocking chair in the nursery and watch him sleep. He knows me pretty well after 25+ years.

Since I will pick up Little Man in the mornings, he will be traveling a lot with his Grammy. Given that infant car seats are rear facing, we decided I needed a mirror that mounts on the back window and reflects into my rear-view mirror so that I can watch our little man. One infant purchase demands another. Marketing geniuses have this baby shopping figured out. Parents (or doting grandparents) purchase a car seat. I am all for car seats. (After all, I am from the generation who stood in the center of the front seat as a toddler waiting to be catapulted out the front window when Mom hit the brakes.) Now, after the car seat is decided upon, there are headrests that fit inside the car seat to support the baby’s head. And once you buy the headrest for the car seat, there are soft, supports that wrap around the headrest straps so the baby’s face isn’t irritated. Then there are toys to fasten onto the car seat. Lastly, don’t forget window shades and the BABY ON BOARD sign while you are shopping.

How did babies ever survive before the advent of the baby superstore?

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