The Baby Shower and Some Assembly Required

The Baby Shower

Even though we were not organizing the baby shower there was still a fair amount of coordination, work and stress that we (my wife) had to deal with. It's to be expected after all because whoever is organizing it, whether it is one person or a group, won't know or have all the information on who you want to invite, what their address is, suitable locations, etc. There is only so much the organizer(s) can do, which is a lot, thank God. This was a traditional baby shower, meaning that men were not invited. This might have been a good thing as there were a ton of ladies who attended (from what I've been told).

My wife's friends and my sister did an amazing job with organizing the baby shower. They had a beautiful cake with pictures of my wife and I when we were babies.

Come to think of it, I never did get a piece of that cake :(


One of my wife's friends is a Sales and Education Account Executive at Estée Lauder and she provided a bunch of gift bags for all those who attended.

Side note - As a marketer and communicator this is a brilliant idea.

A baby shower is attended by a high number of your target audience and you provide small samples of your products (perhaps with a business card or information on where to get more) as a gift bag. And because it is being given at a baby shower of someone you know (and presumably like) there is an emotional/trustworthy tie to it. This is what you call a win-win in the biz :)

I was curious as to what people got us as gifts from the registry and also what we got that was not on the registry. I was overwhelmed with the generosity.

I mean the gifts just kept on coming. There was a mountain of cute tiny little baby things as well as large boxes containing much needed baby equipment. It was awesome and we were thrilled. Then as I was looking through all the gifts, I read a lot of those three dreaded words...

Some Assembly Required

Don't get me wrong - assembling items is a small price to pay compared to having to... well, actually "pay" for the item.

Just a few of the items (some we purchased, others were gifts) that required assembly were:

• The crib - went smoothly but since we got in the U.S. the CBSA told us that if anything were to go wrong we could not do anything about it. In other words no legal action could take place.
• Play pen - nearly took my finger off when installing the change table/napper attachment. Still don't know if it is on right.
• Bassinet - took a couple of hours but the cat loves it.
• Bouncy seats - wife managed these ones on her own with a few contributions to the swear jar.
• Dresser (IKEA) - 99 screws and my drill broke after the first one.

One item that required more "installing" than "assembly" was the Britax "B-Safe" infant car seat. Since we were at the point where the cottage cheese in our fridge had an expiry date after our predicted due date, I felt the need to get this done sooner rather than later because there's always the possibility of going into labour early.

Luckily we live in a new neighbourhood that has a lot of people in the same boat as us. I had asked my neighbour a few questions about the installation of his car seats (he has a 2 year old boy and 6 month old girl) and he, thankfully, offered to help me install mine. After a payment of two rum and cokes I installed my first ever infant car seat :)

The trick to installing the base of the car seat is to contort yourself into the car backwards, jam at least one (preferably two) knees into the base, thread the seat belt through inconspicuous holes in the base, yank and pull the seat belt with as much force as you can possibly muster and then push the clasp down on the seat belt to secure it, and Bob's your uncle!

We plan on taking it to a charitable organization called S.E.A.T.S. to have it inspected and make sure I installed it correctly... just in case.

The bigger trick was trying to figure out how to release the seat from the base and loosen the straps. I'll spare you the details on that one.

Next up: Le Tour de Montfort

The Lists

The List

I don't know about you, but my wife loves making lists. Whether it's for groceries, packing for travel, restaurants we want to try, chores, etc., it is all about "the list". I'm not complaining – I think lists are a good thing. They keep you organized, on track and less likely to forget. Being new to the whole parenting thing, having a list (or many) actually provides some comfort. It gives a bit of confidence in believing you actually know what the hell you are doing and what you need to bring this new person into the world (spoiler alert, you really don't).

The first list was inspired by a friend of my wife's who had two small children. They went to a few stores like Babies "R" Us and she pointed out all the essentials we would need and the "don't waste your time and money on that" items. It was very helpful and I suggest that all soon to be parents leverage the knowledge and experience of a friend or relative who has recently had children. We had also done some shopping/investigating on our own for things like strollers. There is an entire world out there dedicated to strollers. I'm really glad we did this on our own as picking out a stroller is dependent on your lifestyle and how you see yourselves using it, which your friend or relative may see differently. All of this knowledge was an excellent starting point to developing a list of items for the baby shower.

The second list for us was for the baby's room. You'd be surprised at the number of items you need to do and buy for a baby's room. Add to it the decorating items and this list can get substantial. If you add "do it yourself" projects for the room and you're looking at a list the size of a bar tab of an NHL Stanley Cup championship team.

Bar Tab - Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins June 2011

My wife's style is great, and she chose a simple but elegant colour for the room and decided that we could give the room some colour with the accessories and decorative items. I'm happy to say that we are about 90% done.

I'm also a little annoyed because some friends of ours who have three kids recently told us they barely used all the stuff in the baby’s room – the ottoman in the family room became their changing table and the couch their feeding chair. I guess it's better to have options for when the time comes for us.
















The third list that we need to make is the hospital bag. I've been given a lot of suggestions for this particular list, and being a fairly light packer for all things I'm curious to see how many items in the hospital bag will actually get used. But again I'll take the cautious approach of better to have it and not use it than to not have it and need it. In doing some research on what to pack I came across a list that had over 41 items. I cross-referenced that list with one we received from our prenatal class and noticed there were about half a dozen items missing. I mean where does the list end – with the kitchen sink!? I think the best advice I received was to make a list and then go over that list with your partner. If it turns out that you've missed something when the time comes then hopefully you have somebody who can pick that item up and bring it to you.

All these lists can seem a bit daunting, but really they become a stabilizing confidence-builder. During the pregnancy there is not much you can do but wait and monitor and worry and hope everything is okay, but making lists and crossing the items off brings a sense of control. It gives you the pleasure of knowing you are contributing and becoming prepared to bring this tiny little person into the world.

Never underestimate the power of a list!

Next up: The Shower and Some Assembly Required