Time to register...

I registered when I was getting married and it made me uncomfortable. I hate when people feel obligated to buy you a gift and then you tell them what to buy! It didn't seem right to me. But everyone kept saying that it is tradition and people want to buy gifts for occassions like a wedding. Well, I had the same concerns when I was registering for my baby shower. I felt bad that I was telling people what to buy and expecting them to buy something at all. I didn't feel as guilty though because babies cost a lot of money and we could use all the help we could get.

I had a list of things I knew we would need: bottles, pack-n-play, a bouncer, a high chair, blankets, car seat, etc. I had no idea how hard it would actually be when I started going to the stores. There are a MILLION different kinds of bottles. How would any first time parent know which to get? I ended up getting a couple different kinds and hoped for the best. And how do you know which products are safe, which have been recalled, which have good reviews and bad reviews. I tried to research many of the products I registered for beforehand but it got to be quite overwhelming. I mean, you can't just get a car seat and stroller. It has to be a travel system. And you can't get this bouncer because the toys are boring. You can't get this high chair because the tray sits up too high. Picking out the room decor was easy. It was the important stuff that was hard. And the husband was no help.

And there are so many things that are just unnecessary but you get them anyway - i.e. a diaper genie. I have used mine once. It takes the diapers and makes them into a huge, smelly sausage. I didn't realize you should probably empty it often so I just kept throwing diapers into it. When I finally emptied it for the first time, I had to drape the diapers all over my body and wrap them around my neck just to get it to the trash bin, like a big diaper snake. I never used it again and now it sits collecting dust. Can you re-gift a used diaper genie? Maybe sell it on ebay?