Under your arm is on top of the world

Ah, ads from the 70s!

Baby love

My sister is having her baby shower on Saturday afternoon - it's kinda exciting, being my first niece/nephew and all (don't worry, it's my older sister, not my teenaged one!). However, today I went shopping for presents and, despite the help of a list my sister compiled, it was excruciating! Who would've thought a kid could need so many things? Or that there were so many kinds of things, in so many different brands, colours, materials, etc? Or that there were so many things for different stages of development?

But that really was the least of my worries. The biggest issue - what can I buy that won't risk killing it? Seriously, I was looking at things going: 'That's cute, fluffy, etc, but will it suffocate the baby?' or, 'that is also cute, fluffy, etc, but will the baby choke on it?'. Not to mention that it might be allergic to certain materials, dyes, and all of that stuff. I was so stressed by the end of it, not to mention I'd just bought a whole heap of things which I'm sure are useful, but not entirely amazing gifts. Is that what happens when you buy gifts for people who have/are having babies? Do gifts stop becoming cool and start becoming practical? Then they become fun gifts again when they're a bit older?

And then when the kid is actually born, what do you buy then, given it will probably have everything from aforementioned baby shower? I figure it's a bit like the engagement party followed by the wedding - what presents you don't get from the first, you put on the registry for the second. Honestly, married people and people having babies are so selfish!;)