Preparing for Baby

In around 16 weeks we'll be welcoming a baby girl to this crazy life! Last night we decided it was time to start making some serious preparations for her arrival. We have not yet taken a lamaze class, we have not yet read Baby Wise, and we've given very little (Cari) to no (Tony) thought to a nursery. However, we are now completely familiar and entirely unimpressed with the selection of baby/little girl toys in the Wal-Mart toy aisles. During our Wal-Mart run last night, my toy-loving husband felt it would be worthwhile to scope out the selection.

First of all, let me say - i don't really like toys. The fewer toys that have to be in our house, the better. (Easy for me to say now, huh?) Second, my poor house is already full of my husband's toys. Maybe they'll like the same toys, that would be convenient. We'll be set if this little one loves nerf guns, airsoft guns and basketballs/soccer balls/footballs/nerf balls/tennis balls/etc.

We started our toy research in the Bike aisle where they have those super cool, super expensive electric toy cars. Neither of us had one as a child and I think we're both still feeling a little burned by that. Ok, not really, but how cool would it be for a kid to get to drive around in one? The bummer is that every girl car is plastered in Disney's princesses.* They can't simply be painted pink and purple, they have to have "Princess" written all over them. We decided she'd have to go with the John Deere Gator. (*I don't mean to imply there's anything wrong with Disney's princesses, just never been my thing.)

Next, we ventured down the girl toy aisle. The aisle started out with these incredibly freaky looking dolls that looked like barbies but weren't and were dressed in scandalous lingerie....cool! Next were the Bratz dolls...cool! (I really hope my sarcasm is clear here.) Then came the Barbies...ok, barbies really can be kind of cool .I sort of liked them as a little girl. Across the aisle were the baby dolls - i loved baby dolls as a little girl! I kid you not, at one point we each had a baby doll cradled in our arms while we gave her her pacifier and listened to her make baby noises while opening and shutting her eyes. Then we looked at each other and realized what we were doing and quickly returned the dolls to the shelves. I think we're getting a little excited for baby's arrival! :)

Our baby preparation outing last night left both of us feeling much better prepared for our baby's arrival. The most important things we learned: don't waste time at Wal-Mart and a bunch of crazies design girls' toys. We are one step closer to being great parents!