The Little Shop That Can.

Alise and I went to Babies'R'us the other day.

Now, don't fret. We're not getting too ahead of ourselves. We didn't go there for any other reason than to buy a bath thermometer. Alise has read that taking too hot baths can be harmful to babies at pretty much all stages of the pregnancy, and while we looked for a bath thermometer in CVS, they didn't have one so we took a trip to the big store with everything for baby.

Babies'R'us was, to me, surprisingly nice. I had expected a giant store, rather like its big brother, with a ton of things that no-one has ever in the past ever needed for their child. This store though was fairly tranquil, with clearly defined areas and wide aisles. Soft music played, the air smelled… clean.

We wandered around for a while. We soon found the bath thermometer in the 'First Aid/Bath time' aisle (it's as if they KNEW why we were there and rearranged the store before we arrived!). we picked it up, Alise got some things for morning sickness (a pill for the nausea, a blindfold so that she doesn't see my half dressed scrawn every morning which is what I still think may be the root cause of the nausea). Whereas usually I like to run into a store, grab what I need and run for the exit, sometimes stopping to pay, sometimes not; this evening caught me in an inquisitive mood. I spotted the strollers, and puttered towards them.

Did you know that they now have baby strollers that you can put baby into and wheel them around with you, then you can lift baby out while still in its cradle, and use the same cradle as a car seat?? They are like Transformers! Genius! Baby doesn't get woken up! And this same contraption can be used later on as a toddler stroller! I played with basically all of them. Practicing lifting them out and putting them back in. judging for myself how easy this would be for both of us, relaying my findings to Alise, who was looking at me like… well I don't know what that look was like. I think she thought this was 'sweet', with perhaps a slight shade of terror thrown in.

We moved on from the strollers once I'd decided that I would conduct further research at a later date. We are being very careful at this early stage to not actually buy any of these things, but figure that it doesn't hurt to have a look. It was just a quick walk to the pack and plays.

These things are AMAZING!! They're travel playpen things, that can also be used for a newborn with what I can only describe as a raised floor. They have shades, storage holes, they vibrate and have lights. And they pack down to the size of a deck of cards! Well not quite. But they are impressive.

I had FAR too much fun at that place. I only had to leave when one baby called another baby a 'bugger head' or something, and the whole place exploded in screams and cries. Why do children always have to spoil my fun?