Progress

Our weekend came and went with a few milestones to share. After weeks of postponement, we finally got to Des Moines to register for all things baby. You may wonder why on earth we would go all the way there to do such a thing, but as is very Iowa-typical that is where the nearest Babies"R"Us is located. We knew that we had Target as an option around home, but I've heard from many a mommy that Target just doesn't cover it all. So, I took the advice I'd been given and scheduled us right up for a trip to BRU.

We arrived in DM around 10:30am and headed straight for the mall to do a couple quick things. After a leisurely walk around and lunch with friends, we arrived at BRU just before 2pm, prepped and ready to go. What followed was a combination of apprehension, confusion, intrigue, frustration, more confusion and finally, exhaustion, all in a good three-hour timespan...it was amazing that a store that size could create such a mixed bag of feelings. We started our journey in the furniture section (Yes, we are still without nursery furniture. We know, we're crazy.) and quickly left for something a little less overwhelming. This took us to the "small" furniture section -- pack & plays, strollers, bouncers, etc. which we found a bit more manageable. So, after what was probably thirty minutes of analyzing, bickering, bathroom breaks and Baby Bargains reviews went by, we got started. We didn't have a clue what we were doing, but after one desperate pack & play phone call to a new mom friend, we started zapping away. By the time Josh's mom and sister showed up to help us around 4-4:30pm, we were both relieved to have assistance and never more ready to get out of a place in our lives. Julie shed some serious light on things we had been avoiding and gave us the ability to zap said things with confidence. Granted, our pre-Julie registry still needs some serious clean up -- there currently is not one single bottle on it -- it's a start and we're happy.

The day ended with a reward trip to Maggie Moos ice cream shop, a quick trip to visit Josh's family, and a lightening-fast registry session at SuperTarget. By this point we were baby shopping professionals and through either our BRU learning session or our desperation to call it a day, we whipped right through like it was nothing. However, the fact that we did not even arrive there until 7:30pm should give you some indication of how late we got home...just shy of 11pm and late enough to wonder if our dog hated us for disappearing for a straight 14 hours (no animals were harmed in the making of this day...he was checked on periodically by friends). Luckily, Rocky greeted us with the happy dance and zillions of kisses, so we were in the clear. We parked the car in the garage, too tired to even empty it of the day's events, and headed for bed. As we lay watching TV and trying to wind down, the weekend's second baby milestone occurred, almost enough to erase the vivid memories of what we'd just been through...for the first time Josh got to see JJ do something resembling The Worm across my belly. It was a wonderful moment and most definitely makes the impending arrival of this little one more realistic than ever. So even though in our minds we'd just been subject to something along the lines of Chinese water torture, the chance to "see him in action" made it all worth it.