Wipes Warmer With Light (With a light??? You don't say...)In any case, the journey really felt like a day trip...for some reason in LA county, stores such as these (and other bigger baby-stuff warehouses) only exist in the Valley and in Torrance. So you pretty much have no choice but to go on a Sunday or else you would spend more time in traffic than you would wandering the aisles. It worked out nicely for us because we got to combine our errands with a lunch date with our friend Kristin, who lives in Torrance, AND even more fortunately for Mike we got to eat at the only Pat & Oscar's that we know of in a remotely reasonable travel distance.
We were warned that a shot of Scotch might be in order before attempting to navigate BRU, and since I'm now safely in the third trimester I strongly considered it. And we weren't even going with the intention of buying anything. (I have a feeling this is not the last time we will receive this advice.) I think we handled ourselves quite fine actually - for the most part it was fun, looking at all the cute stuff and laughing in disbelief that soon we'd actually have a BABY! (Sometimes I forget that the pregnancy doesn't just end with no tangible outcome.) We toured the perimeter of store, looking at the zillions of strollers, pack and plays, baths, diapers, wall decor, toys, clothes, etc. and there seemed to be no end in sight. We opted not to get a registry gun because somehow it just doesn't seem as fun to impulse "buy" for yourself when a person's life depends on your choices, as opposed to just your dinner guests' taste in china patterns from the wedding registry. We did end up picking out some things we liked for the baby's room, but refrained making any purchases.
Except for the pregnancy book. I think we (and by "we" I mean "I") spent as much time hemming and hawing over which pregnancy memory book to buy than we did over something practical, like say a stroller. One had a cuter design, but the other had better questions and more room for photos. It's not like I had to compare safety ratings or consumer satisfaction so I defend my inability to make a decision because it was all gray area I was dealing with. Besides with friends like Shawn and Zuzana who have already made tons of great product-related decisions, who needs to hem and haw when we can just buy everything they have?! Seriously though, they've given us great advice so far and we are very grateful. I can't imagine someone walking blind into BRU and not having the slightest sense as to where to start when it comes to buying important stuff like strollers and car seats.
The funniest part of the experience was that everyone in the store is there for the same reason - to buy things for someone small and cute. So by default, even the punked out dudes with spiky hair and tattoos are kinda adorable as they walk around the store carrying onesies. Our favorites were the two guys wandering cluelessly as they nervously consulted the printed registry list they were carrying. They just weren't the types you'd expect to see in a store like this. Because the expected types looked like us - a woman waddling around with a partner or relative in tow as they tested out and examined the multitude of (mostly) unneeded products.
After the rest of the baby errands, which also included a trip to USA Baby to browse cribs, we stopped by to see little Abby where Mike got a tutorial in diaper changing and we both learned more about the car seat/stroller system we are planning to buy. The predictable irony, of course, was that we learned more from Shawn and Zuzana and Abby in an hour than we ever could have wandering up and down Hawthorne Blvd...most importantly, that it's never too soon to take your infant on her first trip to Peet's!
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