My Favorite Store

It’s been one week since we returned home from France…and it’s like nothing changed. We are back at where we left off; going a zillion miles a minute getting ready for baby, work and basically life. It is really good to be back home; and just in time! I just entered my 30th week and in my mind, the final countdown has begun. That means lots of preparation.

Now, we all know how much I LOVE babies R us; I mean, I could spend all day in that store! It is like a nursery on steroids; and of course everything is laid out in that store in an easy to find/make a decision manner…..That is the exact reason we tried to order everything we needed for the nursery online while in France so it arrived when we returned and we would not have to step into that crazy-house one more time. I spent days researching and putting together a list; coupon searching/cutting and whittling down the costs for shipping. I even worked out a deal over the phone with a representative to give us a discount. Finally, I placed the order, but apparently the clearing house did not like the fact we were placing an order from France; DENIED. Now, I knew there might be issues with me marrying a French man, but isn’t money, money? I mean are we now against profiting from the French?

No worries, we had a back-up plan: Take the list of items we wanted from the registry and go to the store in person to purchase our supplies. The goal was to get in-and-out of the store as fast as possible on Saturday (the day after we got back). So after 20 hrs of travel, a missed flight in Chicago and some major “Chewy swelling” and baby hates to sit still so she decided to “kick the s*&t out of me” we got a few hours of sleep and headed out to Babies R Us. Maybe it is not a good idea to enter that store jet-lagged; perhaps that is why I have such a bias against a place full of pastels and employees that wear puke-purple shirts? Of all the items on the list, I think they had about 3 of what we had chosen in-stock. No, problem, the can order them and then pick them up in the store the next week? WRONG

Well, apparently the online store is a “separate entity” and they cannot order into the store. They can only place an order online (like we tried to do in France) which then adds on 200% in shipping costs (which they cannot discount when orders are placed in the store and the coupons I used in France were no longer valid because I had used them already) that will arrive 2 weeks later. Good news for those women who leave their baby shopping until last minute. I mean, what should one expect? To enter a store called Babies R Us and find the supplies they need for their baby? God forbid the store actually stock the items they have on display (kid you not, over 8 items we wanted that were on display in the store were not in stock!). Babies R Us is hell for pregnant women…and their husbands. You want to know why all the demo strollers are broken?? It is because angry husbands get mad and decide to break the “clickable” handles that allow for folding of the strollers. I am not pointing any fingers, but a few strollers never made it back to their original states after a certain “husband” decided to try them out.

So, we were left in Babies R Us for over 3 hours picking out what we could from their limited supply because basically, we were fed-up and figured our girl would not even remember the color/brand of what we bought for her. And really, was all that research into the safest and lightest stroller necessary when we were going to pay $100 shipping on it (dude! That is a changing table!)? Well, in the heat of the moment, the answer was NO. Anything stocked at Babies R Us has to be safe and approved, right? Even if it does weigh as much as a dump truck?

Gee, I wonder why I have such intense feelings towards this store…..

To add trauma to this experience, I purchased a breast pump! Do you know how scary it is to get a breast pump? A mechanical thing that will be attached to your boobs? I know many women do it and actually swear by it, but it is like giving-birth; a terrifying experience when you think about it until it actually happens. So I will leave it at that…..at least I did not leave the darn thing on my registry list that would have for sure traumatized my friends!

And, if that is not enough, did you know that if you buy a Medela pump, you need to buy an adapter so you can use other bottles? And the other bottles only fit into a specific sterilizer…and the electric sterilizer we wanted was not in stock so we had to get a microwave one because it would have been $20 shipping on the original $50 electric sterilizer.

But that is ok, because they were fully stocked on nipple pads…

There was only one place to head after our excellent experience at Babies R Us; usually it would have been the liquor store, but for the next couple months, we top off traumatic experiences with chocolate…lots of it..

Good thing my diabeties test came back normal….yes, good news is I don’t have gestational diabetes!

However, I am anemic and struggling with a chest infection that my general practitioner (who is male; I was not allowed into the women’s clinic with my symptoms) refuses to give/recommend any medication for because it is bad for the baby….but, don’t get me started on this stuff…the post might go on forever….I will follow up on this later.

So, as you can see, never a dull moment in the Menvielle household!