Buying a crib & matching changing table. Doesn't seem like it'd be too big a task right? WRONG! At least the particular crib & changing table set I happened to get my heart set on came with all the features I wanted and an added dose of drama.
It all started a couple of months ago when I found the set on Target.com. It wasn't on sale when I first discovered it, nor did it qualify for free shipping. So I decided to bookmark it on my web favorites and keep checking back. No luck. Upon adding it to a shopping cart the shipping costs alone came out to $173.98! Of course I picked out the one model by Graco that is pretty much only carried at Target. Not any other comparable store, Babies R Us or dept. store. I did find it online at a couple of different crib sites with free shipping but the price they had on it would have been equal or greater to buying it at Target (and that's WITH the extravagant shipping).
However, it happened to be one of the few sets actually carried in Target stores (a lot are available online only) so I thought, "No big deal...I'll just go to a Target store and pick it up. Better call around and see who has it first." So I called one store and they had the changing table but not the crib. The nice sales person offered to check around at other local Targets and none of them had the crib in stock. So I was told to call back every Mon., Wed. & Fri. morning as that's when the stores get new shipments in (although they apparently don't know what will arrive in those shipments). This started my barrage of phone calls over the next week. Once I realized how difficult it was to find either the crib or the changing table, I began phoning like a stalker. I'm sure the Mt. Juliet Target is sick of me!
This all brings me to yesterday when my brother Ty emailed me and asked if I'd gotten anything from him in the mail recently. Thinking that was odd, I told him no but that I don't check the mail every day. I arrived home from work to find that Jeff had gotten all the mail and there was a baby card in it. Upon opening it, three Target gift cards fell out. One from my mom, one from my dad and one from Ty & his wife Jen. The card said that they were for our crib. We were floored!
I had requested today off from work some time ago, setting it aside as a baby registry day. Only those familiar with the Nashville area will appreciate the amount of driving involved today, but here's what happened...
We started out the morning driving to the Rivergate area for breakfast at IHOP (the pumpkin pancakes are delicious, by the way). Then it was off to the Rivergate Target to set up our registry. After being scan happy for about an hour, we asked a sales associate about the crib and changing table. She searched the system and found that the Nashville West store had our changing table but not the crib and the Hendersonville store had the crib but not the changing table. Since most stores don't seem to have either in stock, we thought we'd better jump on it today and had both stores hold which one they had. So we skipped starting our baby registry at Babies R Us in favor of heading to the Hendersonville store where we discovered the crib box was much bigger than we naively thought and wouldn't have a prayer of fitting into our Ford Taurus. So down we went to Jeff's folks' house in Antioch and got their truck that they graciously let us borrow. From there we went all the way to the Nashville West store (on Charlotte) and picked up the changing table. Then we headed all the way back to Hendersonville to get our crib. Finally just got home and we are exhausted but so happy we have them. After the gift cards from my family, we only paid $17!
Planning on putting them together tomorrow and put some of our decor up in the nursery. I'll post pictures once that's done. Jeff was initially dreading putting the furniture together. Now I think he's sort of viewing it as a test of his manhood after I read a few online reviews about the crib stating that some 8 months pregnant women had managed to put it together by themselves in less than 30 minutes. Hehe, I'll let you know how it goes later! All that said, here's what everything is supposed to look like when they're assembled:
Cute! And HOLY COW, that is a lot of driving. I know this because I was still living in Goodlettsville, less than a mile from Target when I drove down to your in-laws in Antioch for Liesl's shower!
ReplyDeleteGlad you finally got them!
God truly will supply all of our needs! This is a great story, Jamie!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the crib/changing table set too; very nice! It's going to look great with the ideas you told me you had for the nursery; so cute!
I can't wait to see the pictures! Yay! :)