The Bain of my Existence

M and I are the type of people who try and get by on the bare minimum (excluding electronics for him and yoga groupons for me). I don't like clutter, I don't like junk, I don't like buying things unless those things will be well used. For the most part, I place little value on material goods. I'd rather spend money on travel and experiences. I'm not saying this is better or worse than any other lifestyle, it's just how I am and how I strive to live my life.

This being said, I am very afraid of baby crap taking over my life and my house. I'm bringing this up because for the last few weeks I've been working on completing our baby registry. There are so many choices out there it's disgusting. Does a child really need a swing, play mat, bouncy chair, bassinet, pack and play, or the hundreds of other things that some parents swear work miracles? No, no, and no. Well at least our future child doesn't!

I fully know why completing the registry has been so difficult. Each and every thing on it has been hummed and hawed over. I've poured myself into reading reviews and comparing products because I only want the bare necessities, but I want them to be the best quality possible. I really don't know why I do this to myself. If people are going to buy your baby a gift in the first place, a lot of them will buy whatever they want and pay no attention to a registry, making all the time I spent researching a waste. Oh well...

I'm having a hard time writing this because I don't want to sound greedy and ungrateful, but I'm just being honest. What's the point in registering if people ignore it? Yes, yes, yes I am thankful for any gift the baby receives, but I will be extra happy if it's something off my list that we will have to buy anyway if it's not gifted :)

Moving on... M and I are in a peculiar position. We live in the States but the baby shower is in Canada because that's where all our family and friends are. It becomes tricky because I'm traveling to and from the shower by train, so how the heck am I supposed to bring gifts back to Chicago with me? If people choose to buy gift cards they will be in Canadian funds!

We've tried to come up with the best possible solution and that is to make a baby registry on amazon.com. This way, people can buy products for cheap (soooooooo much cheaper than any physical store, especially right now when using Canadian currency) and have them shipped directly to us in Chicago, eliminating the need for me to carry everything across the border on a train. I really don't know how well people will respond to this and I guess only time will tell.

For now, I'm just so happy to be done with the registry! I am done test driving strollers, done reading reviews, and done making choices. Thank goodness.