Shopping Freak Out
There are many aspects to preparing for parenthood that don’t directly include babies – eating, exercise, room set up, fetal health, fetal screening, vitamins, career, shopping…
Shopping?
Yes, shopping is a huge part of prenatal preparation.
I’m a man and I honestly had no idea how much shopping was involved – clothes (for both the pregnant P.Pie as well as the twins), furniture, bottles, food, diapers, and a million other things that we haven’t even heard about yet.
You could spend a year’s salary shopping at places like Overpriced R Us and PriceyGap. Fortunately, there’s help.
In Denver, at least.
Here in the Mile High city we have a great group called the Mothers of Multiples Society (MOMS, get it?). This nonprofit group helps support mothers (and mothers-to-be) through education, networking, and friendship. In order to support the society, and to help the mothers, they hold a semi-annual sale. At this sale, you can get everything you need for your newborn or toddlers. Member mothers sell their baby’s used wares for a fraction of what they paid for them when new.
These sales (actually, I’ve only been to one, so technically it’s ‘this sale’) are fantastic. Literally, a football field of baby equipment/clothes under one roof.
Hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of mostly women queue up around the Douglas County fairgrounds for a shot at finding everything they need – books, clothes, rockers, swings, strollers, bassinets, cribs, et al, ad infinitum, ad nauseum (nice use of redundant Latin, huh?). It was incredible, to say the least.
Women who have done the sale before – or know someone who has – just start grabbing things and stacking them, going through their personal piles once they have a minor mountain of stuff.
P.Pie and I, along with The VP and Gunslinger, created a ‘divide and conquer’ game plan – The VP and Gunslinger hit clothes, we go for the heavy goods – and hit the floor. The VP was a pro; she was able get stuff for both Gunslinger as well as the twins. P.Pie and I, well, we fell short.
Not to put too fine a point on it, we choked. We got our panties in a wad. We lost it.
We freaked out.
Starting at the swings, there fifty of them. Fifty. We didn’t need fifty. We only needed two. Then there were cars seats. A sea of seats and bases. And bouncy chairs, bunches of bouncy chairs.
It was all too much. It brought the whole parenting thing crashing down around us. We knew in our heads that twins were coming, but we didn’t realize it was coming so soon.
So we let The VP finish up shopping (she was able to get us some basics) and we left.
In hindsight, we should have had a list of the things we wanted. We’ll know better next time.
Shopping?
Yes, shopping is a huge part of prenatal preparation.
I’m a man and I honestly had no idea how much shopping was involved – clothes (for both the pregnant P.Pie as well as the twins), furniture, bottles, food, diapers, and a million other things that we haven’t even heard about yet.
You could spend a year’s salary shopping at places like Overpriced R Us and PriceyGap. Fortunately, there’s help.
In Denver, at least.
Here in the Mile High city we have a great group called the Mothers of Multiples Society (MOMS, get it?). This nonprofit group helps support mothers (and mothers-to-be) through education, networking, and friendship. In order to support the society, and to help the mothers, they hold a semi-annual sale. At this sale, you can get everything you need for your newborn or toddlers. Member mothers sell their baby’s used wares for a fraction of what they paid for them when new.
These sales (actually, I’ve only been to one, so technically it’s ‘this sale’) are fantastic. Literally, a football field of baby equipment/clothes under one roof.
Hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of mostly women queue up around the Douglas County fairgrounds for a shot at finding everything they need – books, clothes, rockers, swings, strollers, bassinets, cribs, et al, ad infinitum, ad nauseum (nice use of redundant Latin, huh?). It was incredible, to say the least.
Women who have done the sale before – or know someone who has – just start grabbing things and stacking them, going through their personal piles once they have a minor mountain of stuff.
P.Pie and I, along with The VP and Gunslinger, created a ‘divide and conquer’ game plan – The VP and Gunslinger hit clothes, we go for the heavy goods – and hit the floor. The VP was a pro; she was able get stuff for both Gunslinger as well as the twins. P.Pie and I, well, we fell short.
Not to put too fine a point on it, we choked. We got our panties in a wad. We lost it.
We freaked out.
Starting at the swings, there fifty of them. Fifty. We didn’t need fifty. We only needed two. Then there were cars seats. A sea of seats and bases. And bouncy chairs, bunches of bouncy chairs.
It was all too much. It brought the whole parenting thing crashing down around us. We knew in our heads that twins were coming, but we didn’t realize it was coming so soon.
So we let The VP finish up shopping (she was able to get us some basics) and we left.
In hindsight, we should have had a list of the things we wanted. We’ll know better next time.
posted by Rob Barron at 9:26 PM
3 comments
