Impulse Shopper

The drama surrounding the very precious and adorable baby bedding you see above has led me to believe that, in my case, impulse shopping is not a bad thing.

Allow me to explain.

I have spent several weeks browsing various websites for appropriate nursery bedding for Miss Lydie. At first, my search was fruitless. Everything I really liked was too expensive and everything else seemed boring. Eventually, I narrowed my selection to three choices and presented them to Danny.

Being the careful, meticulous person that he is, he took a great deal of time studying over the pictures of each bedding set and considering the available accessories that would compliment each pattern. When he finished pondering the options, he decided he liked the Birdsong set best (pictured above). Since it was my second choice, I was thrilled to have settled on something relatively easily (I have since seen my first choice in person and was not so impressed).

We allowed one week to pass between making our decision and setting out to buy the Birdsong bedding. One week. Apparently, one week can make a huge difference.

When I returned to the site to purchase the set, this is the message I received:

"This pattern has been discontinued and the bedding set featured in the image at the left is no longer available. Only the accessory pieces listed below can be purchased as long as limited quantities remain available."

WHAT???

When Danny heard me having what I am sure sounded something like a three-year-old's tantrum, he quickly appeared to assess the situation. His reaction was somewhat similar, only much more subdued and controlled and not so three-year-oldish.

I had already started searching for the bedding elsewhere and, thankfully, found it on another site (sans the discontinued notice). However, before I went on and lost my ever-lovin' mind, Danny suggested a shopping trip. I'm always okay with a little therapeutic shopping.

Except this shopping trip was less therapeutic than I typically prefer. But, I digress.

We proceeded to Baby Depot to see what they had in the way of nursery furniture and bedding. Because, oh yeah, when you have babies this close together, you need two sets of nursery furniture in addition to the new bedding set. Yippee.

I could have cried within 15 minutes of being in that store. The bedding (including my first choice from my original proposal list) was all totally lame. And, I was in complete sticker shock over the price of the cribs and changing tables and dressers and armoires...

You have to remember that we lucked into Ty's nursery furniture: crib, changing table, glider, and ottoman for only $450, so I never had to do this kind of shopping during my first pregnancy.

Rest assured, unless I find a bargain, Lydia Rose will have the nicest, most expensive furniture in my house. I'm not kidding.

Fed up, I decided to boycott Baby Depot and head for Babies R Us. Certainly I couldn't go wrong there.

Ha. It's a good thing we found a delicious restaurant in which to eat before I crossed into that abyss (more on discovering that food is my love language in another post).

I think there were too many choices there and I could not handle the abundance of information. Not to mention, the bedding was not measuring up to the perfect Birdsong picture in my mind. Thankfully, Tyler decided to have a fit out of sheer exhaustion, and that was my ticket out of there.

On the ride home, Danny and I concluded that we, well, Lydie, just had to have the Birdsong set. We could see no other options fitting for our darling princess, and we planned to launch an internet war to find everything we needed.

As I scoured and searched and reported my findings to my dutiful and handsome assistant, he kept a chart of the various sites I found, what accessories they had available, and all of the prices we were seeing. I'm telling you, the man is fabulous when it comes to stuff like this.

After a great deal of time and energy (and one Sonic grape slush), we decided on two different sites from which to purchase our gear. One, the more reputable company, should be sending the six-piece bedding set, a blanket, and a throw pillow to the tune of about $150. Not bad. The other site, a place we'd never heard of, will be sending the rest, to include two fitted sheets, two baskets with liners, a pair of drapes, an extra window valance, a hamper, a lamp, a mobile, a night light, a picture frame, a rug, another throw pillow, and some wall art to the tune of about $250. Did I mention we still have to buy the furniture for said nursery decor??

The lesson here is that I should always, always, always be an impulse shopper. This is only one example out of about a thousand others where I have had my eye on something and waited for a better deal or tried to find it elsewhere or just thought I'd give it a few days and then it was no longer an option. Thankfully, the Birdsong collection is on its way (we hope), and so justice has prevailed in this case.

But, mark my words, the next time I see something I like, it's coming home with mama.

And, if you know where to buy good nursery furniture at a reasonable cost, please let me know.