We Have A Stroller!

Yesterday, I called the big box baby store, a chore I've been dreading. It's not nearly as exhausting as the call Bryce made to our daycare center this fall, to let them know we should still be on the waitlist (and then he was told, well, all those women who were having their second babies are now having their third, so those always get placed first...OF COURSE). That one was a toughie and I was so grateful that Bryce took it. It won't be as depressing as the call I have to make to the pediatrician this week to make sure that we're still on their list as a (hopefully) soon-to-be patient's parents. These are not fun calls.

But yesterday was a great call, and it renewed my faith in humanity just a touch.

How do you explain that you set up your registry in August of 2015, and while it says "358 days since my life changed forever," that's simply not true? How do you explain that you just couldn't bear to buy the stroller, to store one more thing for a baby that doesn't exist in reality, but now you are feeling the weight of those unused gift cards in the drawer and fear that your stroller will no longer fit the car seat from 2015? That your fears feel somewhat justified when you bring up the registry that claims you've had your baby for a year (February was 9 months from our homestudy date, the end of the average timeframe from homestudy to profile) when in actuality the only tiny things in your home are furry and require litterboxes not changing tables, and it says that your stroller is NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

Well, at first I was all doomsday, but then the lovely manager on the phone explained that another company bought out whoever made the City Mini GT, and I guess now it's Baby J.ogger, so it's not obsolete--it just has a different UPC number. AND, it still fits our car seat, even though a new version came out this year. AND, I asked if the stroller was excluded from the 20% coupons I have, and unfortunately it was, BUT she said we could use our completion coupon for 10% (which on that stroller is not insignificant). I was bummed, because our completion coupon came out last February and we didn't use it, but then she said that she could have it printed for us in the store since we never used it! And that she would send out an email so people would know.

Well, that sealed it. We went to the store today, which always kind of puts me in a funk, and we bought the damn stroller, the adapter for the car seat, and this bathtub kneeling pad that hangs on the side of the tub and has pockets for shampoo and whatnot, because we are over 40 and our knees need probably more padding than any one kneeler can provide (and are there bars for hauling yourself back up again?). We used the last of our gift cards from our shower (well, almost -- I still have one Barne.s &N.oble gift card that I'm saving for when that baby comes home), and we finished purchasing the very few "necessary" things left on our registry, and we received a 10% off coupon that had expired long ago even though they really didn't have to do that for us. They even put a positive spin on our assertions that this purchase felt fairly depressing, finishing out a registry that the computer had deemed "complete" a year ago even though we are still a family of two (plus cats). They said things like, "it's good to prepare!" and "of course it would give you peace of mind to make sure your car seat and stroller are compatible!" It made it feel a little more like we putting the final pieces in place, rather than buying something just to sit in the back room, with everything else that is just waiting to be put to use, to have purpose with a real live baby.

Do you hear that, MysteryFutureBaby? We literally have all the things, and just a few luxurious items that we can purchase when we think you're actually coming home, or in the weeks after. So, you know, you can make yourself known at any time. Don't worry, I don't actually think that there's some magical cosmic thread linking the stroller to the baby, but it can't help to just put it out there again... WE ARE SO READY. Anytime. Feel free to RSVP this long standing invitation, yellowing at the edges and stuck to our fridge...we are waiting for that call.