Making a Baby Registry is....Exhausting!

I've been doing some research here and there for stuff to put on our baby registry.  We've been putting off actually starting it since I'm only 22 weeks and we didn't want to rush anything.  I went to a baby shower on Saturday, so I got into the 'mood' of baby stuff.  So yesterday, we set out to Babies R Us to start.

When we got there, the baby registry area was packed!  It's the Baby Registry and special order area, so some were special ordering items.  So we had to stand around and wait for someone to become available.  The one girl was freaking out b/c she saw people waiting, so asked for additional help.  But they had no open computers, so the helpers couldn't really do much other then to tell us that when the next person available, we would be helped.  Got it.  Not rocket science to see it, but hey, that's just me.  We did get the application to start filling out, so off to work I went. 

Then we got helped after about 10 minutes or so. And all the while, DH was looking around, getting ideas and all.  I felt bad for him.  He was the ONLY guy doing the baby registry. The other ladies there had their moms, sisters, friends, etc, all women. Then you have me and DH that have NO clue what we are doing :)  I had asked my sister to come, but she was already out, and she said we'd be going back plenty of times to add stuff, so there was no rush.  Besides, she said it's good for me and DH to go alone, that way we can see what WE want and WE need, before people throwing ideas in our head, changing our minds.  So, we sat down and the nice associate helped us out, got us registered, handed DH the scanning gun and off we went.  We had gotten a checklist from her, and I was like 'Piece of cake!'  We were able to do our bridal registry at a few stores, and I didn't think it was complicated or took long, so how long could this possibly take? There's only a dozen or so aisles we need? Right?  WRONG!

So we started off in the order the associate told us, we did the cribs first, more or less to get ideas.  We were going to do the lifetime crib, but a good friend and my brother in law both told us to get a crib (cheaper) then buy a toddler bed when the time is right.  My good friend got the lifetime bed, but now has to buy the converter kit (which is costly) and then take it apart and back together.  Her and I have had long in depth parenting talks, and we seem to be on the same page 99% of the time.  She feels that it's better to do the crib, then the toddler bed (a cool one) to reinforce sleeping in the big boy/girl bed.  A lot of her friends have had a hard time getting their kids used to the 'new' setup and feels the postive reinforcement of the new bed would help. My brother in law also said it's easier and cheaper to get the crib, then the separate beds. But nowadays, it's ALL lifetrime cribs. So we put a few on the registry that we liked, as well as the one or two regular cribs that were there so I can do some research on them before deciding.  My mother in law is buying us the crib, and my husband's aunt is buying the changing table. Oh, not a lot of those either! Now it's a dresser and you  have the pad on top to change the baby. Weird.  I want an actual changing table!

so then off to the bedding sets. We are torn between 3 'themes' Butterfly, Princess or Minnie Mouse.  My cousin is having her baby girl this month, butterfly theme.  Girl I work with, her daughter's shower was on Saturday, and she blinged and princess'ed it up.  Minnie Mouse is always easy, but at BRU, there was no 'princess' or Minnie Mouse sets, but there was a nice butterfly one.  I guess we can do that theme in the bedroom, but a princess theme for the baby shower? I don't know the 'protocol' for all of this!  We also went by the mattresses (yikes!) and pads, etc.  Then we got around to the pack and plays and strollers. DH loved that part!  He liked a stroller that could be boy/girl so we liked that one, but it was like a triangle with the wheels. We saw another that had the four wheels, but was brown and pink.  Easy to pull open and closed (also a recommendation by my good friend). So we added the pink one. We also found a lightweight stroller that matched the stroller, and we added a high chair and pack and play (they matched too).

That was all we got around too. We were there for quite a while and were starving, so we left with our goody bag and copy of registry for me to do my 'work' (research).  We are going to try buybuybaby as well since BRU didn't have any bassinets, and I'd like one for our bedroom...one that rocks. On the forums I'm on, I see that is good to have to rock the baby to sleep if the baby is awake, so I'd like one of those.  But BRU only has them online, but I'd like to try one out and touch and feel it before buying it.

So we left, grabbed a bite to eat and went home. I wanted to look over all the goodies we got, but we were BOTH exhausted and passed out for a few hours when we got home :)

So, what do you all recommend? Any preference on the stores and what to get at each store?