Baby Materialism

Well, we did it. We plunged. Even the name of the store - Buy, Buy, Baby - implies spending a lot of money to feel better about the way you are raising your child. A bit bizarre. But, we did it anyhow. We let our GPS lead us South to a the giant department store that looks just like Toys R Us but seems to somehow carry the more expensive version of everything Toys R Us carries. Strollers? Yep. Cribs? Yep. And everything else you didn't know you needed and now feel panicked about not having.

Why did we dot this? Well, remember I told you about our friends with the $1200 stroller? It's a Bugaboo Cameleon 3 Special Edition something, something, something. And somehow they have two. Yes, two (it's a long story). And they want to sell one for "cheap." As in, cheaper than you would normally spend on a Bugaboo but more than any normal person would spend on a stroller. So, what do you think we did? We considered it.

Of course, if B. had his way, he would have just said, "Hey great, a stroller! And it does nifty things! And it's top of the line and it gets good reviews AND I like it! Let's get this one!" And we could have skipped the Buy, Buy, Baby extravaganza. But, me being me, I said, "No, we need to consider every single other stroller option before we settle for this ridiculously expensive option."

We looked at strollers for hours today. It felt more stressful than being a car. I realized (well, actually I already knew this) that I am not good at gadgetry or pressing this fancy button or origamiing this object into a folded position. And I realized, I like the damn Bugaboo stroller.

But then all of my guilt about privilege and luxury and wasting money just leapt up at me. How in the hell can you buy a stroller that would pay someone's rent for a month??? Well, ok, not in Los Angeles, but maybe in like, North Dakota. But, I argued with myself, We're getting such a good deal because it's so much cheaper than buying it retail! Yeah right. It's still more than most people spend on their strollers. My eyes kept going to the small little umbrella strollers that my clients buy and thinking, So what makes me better than that?

You can see the lunacy here. B. was fed up with me. He kept arguing logically about the merits of the stroller and the fact that we've worked our asses off to get where we are and so if we want to get our a baby a nice stroller, we can. Why oh why can't I have his decisiveness? With a side of guilt-free confidence?

So, what did we do? Well, nothing so far. But I still really like the Bugaboo stroller.

Instead, we bought a couple of things because I was caught up in the moment of consumerism and just wanted to buy something. So we bought these:

Which is actually really exciting because these two articles of clothing are the first things I have bought for our baby. As in, actually walked into a store and shopped for my son. Of course, I HAD to buy overalls. Who wouldn't?

Oh, and we bought this Teddy Bear. But mostly so he could wear these little t-shirt we bought in Mexico at the airport. A really random, last minute purchase after our crazy, crazy adventure.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of purchases, I guess I'm going to sneak this little review in here. Right around 18 weeks I started to get really uncomfortable sleeping. I was surprised, because I didn't expect that to happen until much later. But suddenly, but body just seemed to have changed just enough that my typical sleep positioning (which is, by the way, on my side) didn't feel comfortable anymore. My stomach ached, my hips hurt, my chest felt like it was collapsing, and I just was...well, uncomfortable. So, I did some research and decided to buy a pregnancy pillow. I think if you read on forums and what not, people recommend the Snoogie. But I was sure that I wanted a pillow that went down both sides, was soft, and cozy. After reading comparison reviews, I got this one:

It's called the Comfort U Pillow (how cheesy) and I am in love. B. and I call it the Giant White Vagina and I crawl into every night as if I"m returning to the womb. It's pure heaven. But please, don't buy it unless you have an enormous king size bed to accommodate it. It takes up as much space as another person in the bed. Sometimes I reach for B's hand and can't even find him from the other side of the pillow mountain. But that's ok. "Cus I'm comfortable again.

So there you have it. A random post about Buying Things. But really, just an excuse to pour out my guilt about the fact that we may be succumbing to stereotypes of upper-middle-class-suburban-parents to buy a Bugaboo stroller. For real? Is this me??

No, it's not me....it's Kourtney Kardashian.