We're planning for our Baby shower in early March, so we needed to go out and register.  We chose Babies 'R' Us because we've bought stuff there before and they seem to have a fairly complete cross section of everything we need.  However, we were almost completely clueless about what we needed.  We had also gotten a bunch of stuff from various friends and family and we were not entirely sure what it was.  Luckily, our good friend Julie, who has just had her second child, was able to come help us out.

She came over this afternoon and looked through all the stuff we had, to explain what it all was to us, and so she could get an idea of what we already had.  For example, we had three different bouncy thingys, but we didn't know if they were basically the same or different.  We also had bags of clothing, a car seat, a very nice [thing that is not a crib, but acts like a crib, but is portable].

After that, we went over to Babies 'R' Us and we started through the registry process.  Before we even began, Dodi was out.  There was just too much stuff to deal with, so she found a quiet corner to chill in while Julie and I began the grueling process of beeping on everything we would need.  Over the last few hours I've made countless decisions on items like bottles, "binkies", breast pumps, humidifiers, ointments, bathing supplies, child-proofing accessories, whips, chains, duct-tape, cribs, strollers and more.  Julie was totally awesome, walking me through what we needed and what we didn't, what worked for her and what was useless "Froo-froo" stuff.  Overall we probably spent 2 hours walking around with the laser scanner.

By the time we were done, I was exhausted, both physically and mentally. My feet were sore, my back was tight, and even my scanner trigger finger was tired.  More than that, though, my brain was totally full.  Every time I think I've got a grip on parenting, I go and learn something new and my brain stretches a bit.  I wish I could have done mental stretching exercises before we left for the store.  I felt like the Far Side cartoon:  "May I please be excused, my brain is full"

For the moment, at least, we've got a solid first pass done.  If you're interested, you ought to be able to find us online at the Babies 'R' Us Registry, under Dodi Schrader.