timeimmortal

So over the last few days, Grace, my mother, and have been looking at various pieces of baby-related merchandise, and it’s been pretty fun so far. Contemplating the arrival of our little one in such concrete terms as “where do we put the crib?” and “what kind of stroller should we look for?” somehow makes the whole thing seem…well…even more real than it already is. It’s pretty cool, actually.

Even more cool is just being with Grace through this experience. Aside from the fact that lately we’ve been losing sleep, we’ve been growing closer and closer as the weeks roll past, and she has been just radiant for…well, for as long as I can recollect, to be sure. Just radiant — she really has that “pregnant lady” glow about her, and it’s both cute and touching just how much she obviously loves and cares about our little one.

I don’t think the English language has words I could use to adequately express my gratitude and awe.

One thing I just thought of: baby products…what a racket! One would think that baby products would be simple and straightforward, but in reality the opposite is true — worse (and more annoyingly) still, the stuff all comes in matching sets! You can get the playpen and crib in a matching colour scheme, and also the stroller and carseat, and even the bedding, all co-ordinated with the same patterns and earthy colour tones. Much of it seems cute, but much of it gives off a creepy vibe.

Baby as fashion accessory. Sometimes, society just gets under my skin, in a bad way.

Fortunately, we were able to cut through some of the B.S. and come away with a compact, functional, relatively simple stroller. It isn’t too big, doesn’t have the full cup-holder deck that one so often sees, and folds up neatly into something that could fit comfortably into the back of a Smart Car (we drive a Chrysler Sebring, though). And the crib we found is also fairly straightforward — finished wood railings, metal (not plastic!) sliding apparatus for opening the one side.

Cribs, though…there’s another racket. There’s not a single one these days that retails with a mattress included, at least not that Grace and I were able to track down. But then, we did manage to track down a smart-looking unit, with room to spare in our budget for a mattress and some bedding. It will look really nice in the corner of the apartment we have set aside to be “Baby’s Corner”.

Now we just need diapers and a couple of jumpers.

Also, I found the neatest little blog add-on, and it should be visible at the top of the main content pane. It’s a little…slider, I guess would be the best term for it — that shows (based on the projected due date) some basic information about the expected development of the baby. Very cool.

~ by Kenneth on July 24, 2008.